His Princess
by AniuLonewolf
Summary: 3 years after the adventures is KH2 the trio are thrown into another war between light and dark. Everyone knew Sora as the happygolucky guy who weilds the keyblade but what when will come of him when the one thing that he holds dear to him is taken away?
1. Chapter 1

I was inspired to finally write a Kingdom Hearts story after beating the second Kingdom Hearts game. I always thought of writing a fanfiction for this awesome game and the trailer that I saw on the internet for 'Kingdom Hearts 3' just added fuel to the fire, making me think of ideas. I'm so excited for this story and I haven't even touched the tip of the iceberg yet for this fanfiction. Yeah me!

**His Princess**

**By ****AniuLonewolf**

**Chapter One**

Blowing dust made it almost impossible to see anything that was going on but the sounds told enough. There was so much action that it was impossible to know what was going on. All you had time to do was raise your blade to block the enemies' attacks. You had to be on your toes the entire time, ready to take down an enemy and if you weren't fast enough you would be cut down yourself. There were sounds of screaming, yelling, swords and other weapons clashing together; their steel hitting together creating sparks at the point of impact. It was a battle - no, a war. A war between good and evil and there seemed to be no end to it.

He didn't have enough time to stop and collect his thoughts for he was in the heat of battle with many enemies that there seemed to be an endless army. The darkness was growing faster by the minute and he could feel his muscles screaming for him to stop. His heart ached as it fought another battle, fighting off the darkness that wanted to consume his soul. He had to stay strong and keep fighting. He had been fighting one battle after another for what seemed like days. Fighting alongside his friends and others that stood on the side of light. They had been fighting against the darkness in this war for years and he knew it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

But he knew that he couldn't stop. She was in danger and that was enough for him to jump into anything to save her. She was his whole world, she meant everything to him. He loved her. Flashbacks of her sweet and kind smile, hearing her joyful laugh - it reminded him of what life used to be like before anything had ever happened to them. Before they began to dream of getting off their little island and discovering other worlds. Life seemed so simple before then. Their first adventure was enough to realize that being on their little island wasn't so bad. After they returned home, they thought it was finally over. It was so peaceful and calm on their island. But not now. Their journey was far from over and now... now it was like hell on earth. It was never going to end.

All he could think of was that he had to get through the hundreds of shadows to get to her. He had to... even if it killed him; he had to make sure she was safe. She was everything to him; she held his heart for he loved her so. She was the princess of his heart. She was his princess and he was her protector. He had to protect her.

"Behind you!" Someone yelled to him.

There were only a few seconds to react to see that a giant shadow knight was about to swing his giant lance, aiming for his head. The seconds slowed and he tried his hardest to lift his blade in time to block the attack. He succeeded in diverting the lance a fraction of a bit, making the blunt side of the blade come in contact with the side of his head, hitting him in the temple.

His vision was sent spinning into hell but he had to keep going. He tried to push the pain way, he needed to carry on and get to his princess. He could feel the warm blood trickle down the side of his face and tried to wipe it away in a hurry while fighting off the lanced knight.

After cutting the creature down, the bright pink heart that the monster was living off of floated up into the sky, returning to the human in which it had belonged to. Looking around quickly he saw that there were no shadows coming after him and took the opportunity to catch his breath. It felt like he was in a bubble of peace if only for a second. All the fighting, all the war was happening all around him. He watched as the soldiers of the light side fight to overpower the creatures of the darkness.

"Are you ok?" Came the same voice that had shouted the warning to him before. "That blow looked like it should have sent you to your knees."

Sky blue eyes looked up from behind chestnut brown bangs and clashed with the blue-aqua eyes that were his friend's. The wind picked up again, playing with both their hair - his brown as light chocolate and his friend's the colour of crystal snow.

"Nothing is going to stop me. I have to get to her." He managed to get out, his throat dry and sore from battle and the lack of water.

All his best friend could do was sigh. "I knew you were going to say something along those lines." He said as he spun around to cut down another darkness creature. "You've been saying that for the past year and a half."

"And I'll keep saying until I get her back." He snapped back. "I'll do anything to get her back!" He could feel his anger grow like a wild fire would spread on dry grass. "I will get her back!"

All the anger had blinded his judgment and without thinking he raced back into the battle, running out of his bubble of rest and hacked down the nearest shadow creature that was closest to him.

"Hey, slow down!" His friend yelled, running after him. "You're going to make your wounds worse just swinging that damn thing around like an idiot!"

His blue eyes hardened into a cold ice blue as they glanced down at the weapon in his hands. Why did the damn thing have to pick him as its wielder? Why couldn't it have chosen someone else? It only seemed right to place all the blame for the past events on the stupid blade that he held to tightly.

With a mighty yell he swung the blade down, coming in contact with the unreal flesh of the dark creature in front of him. As he felt it break down into the pink heart of another human, he didn't stop and jumped after another and then another and yet another. He was so angry and he felt that the only way to release his anger was on the very creatures that kidnapped his princess.

"Damn you, damn you all!" He screamed as he cut down another, not taking the time to watch the heart float away.

He ignored the screams of pain that his muscles were sending to his brain. He was sick of fighting; he didn't want to be a warrior anymore. He wanted to go home with his friends - with her. He wanted everything to be normal again. He just wanted it all to stop.

"Control yourself!" His best friend yelled after him, trying to catch up but got stuck fighting off a couple shadows. "Stop!"

He didn't listen to anyone or anything. He didn't listen to his best friend; he didn't listen to his body both telling him to stop. "No... I can't..."

But as it were, his anger was pushed aside by the demands of his body to rest. His lungs burned with the need for air and with the lack of, his muscles burned for needed oxygen. His body was shutting down on him. No, no! He had to continue... he had to get to her!

Some of the creatures saw that he was wounded and scurried after him, taking advantage that he was weak. He tried to fight them off with his blade but it was too much. Trying to fight off the creatures as well as trying to keep his body working, it was just too much. His body finally won the upper hand and he collapsed to the ground, the handle of his weapon slipping from his fingers. The ground came at him fast as his world began to spin until he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore.

Seeing that his best friend was down, the white haired warrior tightened the grip of his weapon and slashed through the fiends that were huddling around his fallen friend. When he had cut all of them down, he dropped his weapon at his side and bent down to pick his friend up from the ground.

He was still fighting to stay conscious, trying to grab at his fallen blade but it was no use. He looked up at his friend who had picked him up. "I'm sorry... Riku." He whispered.

"It's ok. You just rest now so you can fight another day." His friend reassured. "We'll take you back to the camp to get your wounds dressed." He called two soldiers over to help him carry his friend back to the camp. "Just rest, Sora."

With his friend's words bringing some peace to his mind, he allowed the tiredness to flow through his muscles. He closed his eyes so sleep could overtake his body- but he knew it wouldn't be a peaceful sleep for he knew that her face would haunt his mind and his dreams.

He could only manage a few words before falling unconscious in his best friend's arms in the middle of the battle field.

"I'm sorry... Kairi..."

* * *

Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix

His Princess by AniuLonewolf


	2. Chapter 2

**His Princess**

**By ****AniuLonewolf**

**Chapter Two**

Why did it have to choose him? What made him so special? Wait, who said that having that damn thing made him special? Everyone would say that he was 'special' for having the blade choose him but from where he saw things, the keyblade only brought pain, fear, and horrible memories.

It didn't feel like he was special for being the keywielder, it felt more like he was cursed to have it and it angered him to the point of breaking something when people would say that 'it was a blessing to have the keyblade choose him'. He was sick of it.

But being angered by it wouldn't make the keyblade go away. He knew that from years of casting only hate filled eyes upon the blade. No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't leave him.

Looking back on his peaceful life that he once had, it scared him to see what he had become. Once, on the island that he lived on he was so happy-go-lucky and always smiled. His friends used to say that he acted as if he didn't have a care in the world. His friends were everything to him.

_'Now__... now look at me.'_ His inner thoughts said about himself. He never smiled anymore and never laughed for he saw no point in happiness when it would have been all fake; all a lie. When, on their home island he was so warm but now he was so cold and hard as stone from the experience of the war whereas when he was a kid, Riku would always bug him about being too soft. He was almost the complete opposite of what he was like when he was child. And it was all because of the stupid war. The only thing that didn't change much was his appearance, save for growing taller in the past few years and getting his left ear pierced, he still had the same hair style and wore the same kind of outfit. But his eyes, his eyes were as hard as ice from the experience of war.

Riku told him all the time that he had changed so much. There was one time where he had asked him why he didn't smile anymore. The only answer he could give was that what was the point of smiling when you were a warrior in the middle of a war. It bugged him a lot to hear his friends tell him that he was so cold now. But how could he have possibly stayed the way he was before? So much had happened to him that the memories would stay with him forever, never leaving his dreams at night. And with her being kidnapped, it was even worse.

Opening his eyes, he saw that he was in a hospital room. White walls had nothing but dead boring written all over them and the air in the room made him sick. It was so depressing... wait, everything about the damn war was depressing. He hated coming here every time he got hurt. He hated the whole atmosphere of the place.

That was another thing Riku would never fail to point out - how he would say that he hated everything. He would have never said that when he was a kid but now he hated so many things and he never failed to tell people how much he hated it.

There was a knock on the door which didn't earn his attention. All he did was stare out the window, glancing over to who his visitor was for a moment and then returned back to the window.

"Hey Sora, you feeling any better?" His best friend Riku tried to lighten the mood as he walked through the door. Looking over again, he saw that he was carrying a tray that he guessed was his lunch. God he hated hospital food - it was so plain and it tasted horrible.

There was no response from Sora as he just sat there, staring at his lap. His outfit was hanging on the wall on a hanger and he was dressed in hospital pajamas. He looked down at his hand; they felt naked without his black gloves that he wore all the time. Instead, they were wrapped up with white bandages for the blisters he got from holding his weapon too tightly had started to bleed.

A sigh came from Riku as he walked into the room, setting Sora's food tray on the nearby bedside table. "You better eat it this time." He said sternly. Last time the stubborn brunette was sent to the hospital he refused to eat.

"Yes, mother." Sora retorted as he didn't lift his eyes from his pale blue sheets. Sure, he would say that he would eat but really he would just push it aside like he did every time he went to the hospital. He didn't feel like eating, he had lost his appetite not long after Kairi was taken away from them - from him.

When the thought of his love bubbled to the surface of his mind he felt himself grow angry again. He did everything he could to not jump out of bed and race back out into the war. He wanted it all to stop. He hated being so angry all the time. He wanted things to go back to normal.

Riku watched his best friend fill with anger almost to the point of exploding. He watched Sora grit his teeth and fist his hands so tight that his wounds on his knuckles opened again, dark red dots appearing on the white bandages. "You're thinking of her aren't you?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

Ice blue eyes shot up from under brown bangs. "Of course I'm thinking of her!" Sora shouted. "How can I not, she's always on my mind!"

Riku let out a sad sigh and sat down in the chair that was beside the bed. He hated to see his best friend like this. Sora was always the soft and happy once when they were kids while he was the rebel and grumpy one most of the time. But now, ever since he came back to Sora and the others from being consumed by darkness, Riku's outlook on life turned almost a 180.

It was always Sora who told him to look on the brighter side and think positive but now it would seem that the coin had flipped; Riku tried to look on the positive side while Sora wallowed in the shadows and not giving and damn about the 'positive side'.

And being his best friend, Riku watched first hand, unable to do anything as he watched Sora's spirit crumbled down and his heart turn into a cold heart of a warrior unable to smile anymore. Riku knew that Sora was like this for the main reason that Kairi was gone. He had always known that the brunette and the red haired girl had a deeper connection than being friends; he could sense it from the very beginning. Sora loved Kairi and without her, Sora was an empty shell that fought the battles on the battlefield. He was lost without her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to set you off again." Riku whispered, his white bangs covering his eyes. "I should get going, we have a meeting with the King in a little while." He was about to get up when Sora grabbed his wrist.

"What? Why didn't you tell me before, I'll come too." Sora said as he was about to get out of the bed.

"No." Was all Riku said as he turned around and placed a firm hand on Sora's shoulder, pushing him back into the pillow. "The King doesn't want you to come. He wants you to rest for now so you'll be ready to fight again when you're better."

Sora was about to say something when he locked eyes with his best friend. That look told him that Riku wouldn't let him so much as move an inch towards that door. He didn't bother putting up a fight for suddenly he felt very tired.

"Whatever." Was all that he muttered and slumped back into his pillow.

Silence filled the room once more. Seeing the look on his face, Riku knew that Sora would stay in the room. Riku was about to leave when he remembered something. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small bag and handed it to Sora.

"Here's your stuff. The nurse cleaned your clothes for you so she gave me your stuff so it wouldn't get lost." He explained as he put the small blue bag on the bed beside Sora. "I have to go now, see ya later." And with that Riku left the room, closing the door behind him and leaving Sora alone once more.

A loud sigh escaped his lips as his eyes scanned the room before landing on the bag on his bed. Reaching out, he picked it up, pulled it open and took out the items that were inside; a piece of paper, a few photos and a star shaped charm.

Unfolding the piece of paper, he read over the words for what seemed like the millionth time. He always kept the letter close to him in his side pocket but ever since she was taken away he was reading it more than usual.

_Thinking of you wherever you are._

_We pray for our sorrows to end and hope that our hearts will blend._

_Now I will step forward and realize this wish_

_And who knows:_

_Starting a new journey may not be so hard or maybe it's already begun._

_There are many worlds but they all share the same sky - one sky, one destiny._

_Kairi_

He read the letter over and over a thousand times. While he read it, he held her papou fruit shaped lucky charm that she had given to him when they were about to be split up during their journey. It was a promise that he would come home again - a promise that he would return to her after he rescued Riku from the darkness.

And he had kept that promise. After they had saved Riku from the darkness and finally beat Xemnas they returned to Destiny Island and he gave her lucky charm back to her.

Looking back at when he finally returned home, it made his heart swell with warmth. It felt like the feeling that the sun gave him when sitting out on the sand.

o-o Flashback o-o

The Door to Light opened the path back home and landed them in the deep blue ocean that surrounded the islands. Surfacing from under the water, they heard a familiar voice calling their names.

"Sora! Riku!" She yelled from the shore. Looking to where the person was, they both saw Kairi on the water's edge waving to them with a big smile on her face.

Swimming through the water, they made it to the shore. Sora and Kairi locked eyes and couldn't hide the smiles on their faces even if they wanted to. Sora was about to say something when all of a sudden Goofy, Donald and King Mickey jumped out from behind Kairi and ran after the two boys.

Donald and Goofy tackled Sora down to the water in a big group hug while King Mickey jumped at Riku. Kairi just stood there and laughed as Sora hugged both of his two good friends that had helped him through his journey.

It had been such a long time since he had been on their island. He missed the peace and calm that the sound of the waves brought. Looking up at Kairi, he wiped away a few tears from his eyes. He was so happy to be back home. "W-We're back." He gave her a big smile.

She bent down, offering her his hand to help him out of the water. "You're home." She smiled back.

All the battles and the pain were behind him now; he was finally home with both of his best friends. Everything was set right. He reached up to take her hand, with her good luck charm, the smiling star charm in the middle of both their hands.

"I promised that I would bring it back." He laughed as she helped him to his feet. After he dusted off the sand from his pants, he locked eyes with her and held out his hand with her papou fruit charm.

Her deep blue eyes sparkled in the warm sun as she placed her hands over his, closing his fingers around the charm. "I made it for you. Keep it." She smiled, pushing his hand back.

He seemed a little shocked to hear that she wanted him to keep it but he soon looked back up at her. "Thank you." He pulled his hands away from hers and put both the charm and the letter from her in his pocket. "I'll keep it with me wherever I go."

o-o End Flashback o-o

Looking down at the star shaped charm, the corner of his lips moved a tiny bit upwards, forming a tiny smile. He moved his fingers over each point of the star and stared at the little face that Kairi had painted on it, the little star smiling back up at him.

Remembering what had happened next, seeing his parents for the first time in a year and Riku's parents fussing over their son. Their parents were brought to tears after seeing their sons for the first time in such a long time. Since they didn't know anything that had happened or why the boys had suddenly disappeared from the island, the two had tons of explaining to do. But none the less, their families were happy beyond words that they were back.

o-o Flashback o-o

"Oh Sora we were so worried about you." His mother cried as she wrapped her arms tight around him. "You were gone for such a long time, are you alright?" She asked, pulling away from the hug and looking him over, making sure her son was really in her arms and not another dream.

"I'm fine Mom, really. I'm sorry for making you worry so much." He said, hugging her again before letting go. Looking over at Riku, he saw that his parents were doing the same thing; hugging and crying.

The whole town - which wasn't that big - got together and planned a big party, welcoming Sora and Riku back home. Mickey, Donald and Goofy stayed for the party didn't want to breach the oldest rule of disclosing information about other worlds so they said their farewells before the sun set.

The party was full of music and laughter. The town had always been close to one another, everyone was each other's neighbour. Everyone was together in one place, talking about different things while having a big supper and catching up with their friends that they hadn't seen in a while. Sora and the rest of his friends were at the center of attention, being thrown question after question.

Looking around, the smile on his face couldn't possibly get any bigger. All his friends, Selphie, Wakka, Tidus and the others were hanging around somewhere. Riku's, Kairi's and his parents were all together at one table talking about their children and catching up on events that they had missed. His cheeks turned a bit pink when he picked out a little of their conversation... 'Sora... Kairi... together... so cute.'

o-o End Flashback o-o

Parents sure know how to make their kids feel embarrassed, that's for sure. Before their adventure began, from the moment Kairi had come to live on their islands he was instant friends with Kairi. She was a pure soul, the best friend but he would sometimes let his mind wander as he got older if there would be anything else other than friendship. Then that day when he and Riku were about to race to see who should name their raft, Riku said that if he won he would be the one to share the papou fruit with Kairi.

Riku's bet made him give an outburst that didn't mean to come out. He was totally caught off guard and shocked that Riku would say that. Everyone knew that if two were to share a papou fruit than their destinies would be intertwined forever. It was a romantic rumour but it was never far from his thoughts. What if he could ever be lucky enough to share one with Kairi? That thought always popped up in his head.

After that day, he had always seen Kairi a little different. She was the best friend in the world, next to Riku and he would do anything for her. When she was taken away at the beginning of their adventure all he could think of was her and he knew he would get her back. When he finally got to her, her heart wasn't in her body - it had been hiding in another's body to be safe from those who wanted to use princesses' hearts for evil. The other person's body that her heart had been in the whole time was his. Kairi's heart had been inside of him the entire time.

A year later, he knew she was safe on their island and he was so close to getting to Riku. But without knowing, Kairi had been kidnapped again and there were many barriers blocking his path to getting to her. All he cared about was her being safe - that was the only thing on his mind. So much so that he got down on his hands and knees and begged for them to give her back.

He knew then that he thought of Kairi as more than just a good friend.

o-o Flashback o-o

"Come on Sora." Someone suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Come dance with me." His red haired friend smiled.

"O-Oh, ok." He stuttered and let her pull him to the dance floor where some of the other kids were dancing. Looking around trying to spot some of his friends, he saw Riku dancing with one of Kairi's friends.

The girl was dressed in a dark purple long sleeved shirt with a dark red tanktop overtop with a black skirt, brown shoes and dark purple knee high socks. She had short black hair with red streaks and emerald green eyes. She was new to the island, her family arriving just a couple weeks before their adventure had started. Everyone joked around that Riku should try and hook up with her. Riku would always tell them to shut up.

"Hey, look at Riku and Akira." Kairi suddenly said as she continued to dance.

Looking over for a split second, Sora saw that Riku had pulled Akira closer to him. The girl seemed stunned at first but she smiled up at him and continued to dance with him, closer than before. Maybe there would be some kind of relationship between Riku and Akira after all.

Seeing as how Riku was getting closer to the new girl, his thoughts turned on him and he started to think about Kairi. She was so beautiful and he had strong feelings for her, more than just best friends. He wanted to say something or do something to show her but he was too nervous. Glancing back at his best friend, he cursed Riku's skills to pick up a girl. He was too scared that he would mess something up and their 'relationship' would go out the window.

"Is something wrong Sora?" Kairi's concerning words brought him back to reality.

He snapped out of his trance and turned to look at her. "Huh? Oh, no. Nothing's wrong." He smiled at her, locking his blue eyes with her blue eyes. "I'm just a little tired, that's all. It's been a long day."

Kairi's bright smile returned to her face as she reached her hand out and grabbed his. "Yeah it has been a long day. I'm sure the party will die down soon." She pulled him a little closer and moved her feet to the rhythm of the music playing the background. "Do you still want to dance?" She asked.

Looking down at the ground for a moment, he could hear that a slow song was starting to play. Remembering at some of the school dances they had a couple years back and how all the girls loved dancing on the slow songs. His gaze turned back to Riku and Akira and he saw that they were dancing together; Akira's cheek resting on Riku's shoulder and his best friend's arms wrapped around the girl's waist.

"Of course I'll still dance with you." He returned his gaze back up to the girl in front of him.

He watched as her face lit up with joy and she moved a little closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her cheek on his chest. A little hesitant, he lifted his arms and gently rested them on the sides of her waist, feeling the smooth fabric of her pink dress. They slowly moved to the beat of the song, the light from the street lights casting an orange hue on everything, the moon brightly shining in the clear sky.

The world seemed to stop around him as he held onto Kairi and she held on him. He could feel her chest rise and fall as she breathed, her breath tickling his neck. He let out a small sigh as he rested the side of his head on hers. The feeling he had was something he couldn't put into words, he loved the feel of Kairi in his arms.

But sadly the song came to an end and he felt Kairi pull away from his chest. He pulled his head away and locked eyes with her again.

"Thanks for dancing with me." She smiled up at him, her arms still around his neck, and his arms still around her waist.

"Anytime." Was all he could say. He was kinda sad that the song was over. Can't they play another slow song?

He was about to pull away and let her go when she raised one of her hands, cupping his cheek. "Maybe we can dance together again another time?" She asked as she raised herself on her tip toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Stunned for the second time that night, he couldn't make words form in his mouth for a moment as his mind exploded with joy that Kairi had kissed him. He was about to say something - which probably wouldn't have made sense anyways - when Kairi's parents were heard calling her to come home.

"Oh darn." She pouted as she turned around to tell them that she was coming. "And I wanted to go to the island to sit on the beach." She said and turned back to Sora. "Well, goodnight Sora."

She was about to pull away when he grabbed her wrist, pulling her back to him for a moment. "Meet me by the dock at midnight." He whispered to her.

Not having enough time to ask why, Kairi just nodded and offered him one last smile before being called by her parents again.

o-o End Flashback o-o

Putting the paper and the charm down on his lap, he turned to the pictures of him and his friends over the time that he actually thought the fight between light and dark was over. Everyone had such big smiles on their faces - even he did - and each picture showed how much fun everyone was having and they didn't have a care in the world.

So much had changed since then... So much pain... No more smiling or having fun...

* * *

Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix

His Princess by AniuLonewolf


	3. Chapter 3

**His Princess**

**By ****AniuLonewolf**

**Chapter Three**

After saying goodnight to her parents, Kairi climbed into bed pretending that she was going to go to sleep when really she was setting her alarm clock to wake her up at midnight which was two hours away. Thinking to herself, she decided to get two hours rest and let the alarm wake her up when it was time to go and meet Sora at the docks.

While trying to catch some sleep she wrapped her big fluffy blanket around her shoulders, loving the feel of the warmth. A smile moved its way onto her lips as she remembered the feel of Sora's arms around her while dancing.

The feel of his arms around her, his hands on her waist. Her arms wrapped around his neck, her cheek resting against his chest. She felt so happy and safe in his arms. She wished that the song would have never ended and she wished that she could stay in his arms forever.

o-o-o-o

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Slamming her hand down on her alarm clock, Kairi rubbed her eyes and looked at her clock that had just woken her up. It was quarter to twelve which gave her a little bit of time to get dressed and get down to the docks on time. She felt weird - nervous - like there were butterflies in her stomach. It was almost strange to be home - she hadn't been home in a while and she guessed that the nervousness that she was feeling was from going to the island for the first time since Sora had left to find Riku almost a whole year ago.

Even though her idea about being nervous because she hadn't been on the island in such a long time was a reasonable excuse, Kairi knew full well that it wasn't the only reason why she had butterflies. It was because who she was going to meet there. It wasn't like she was scared of him. Far from it. They had been best friends since she had first come to Destiny Islands and their adventure had only brought them closer together. But that was just it; in her heart she knew that she loved him much more than just a best friend.

Looking over at her clock once more she decided to stop trying to think things through and hurry up to head to the docks. She opened her bedroom door and saw that the living room lights were on meaning that her parents were still up. Not wanting to get caught by her parents she closed her door and went over to her window, opened it and climbed into the tree that grew right beside her house. She climbed down and headed down the empty streets towards the docks.

When she got there she saw that Sora was sitting on the edge of the dock beside his boat, swinging his legs over the edge just above the water. He was just sitting there, waiting for her to show up, looking up at the stars.

"Sorry I'm late." She whispered so she wouldn't startle him.

Hearing her voice, Sora jumped up to his feet. "You aren't late; I just came a little early." He smiled as he bent down to untie his boat from the dock. He was about to step into his boat when he looked up at her. "You do want to go to the island right?" He asked just to make sure.

"Yeah of course." She nodded and took his offered hand as Sora helped her into the boat. She just sat there and watched Sora row through the calm waves to the little island that they used to play on as kids.

The boat ride wasn't that long, only a few minutes but it was the quietest minutes of Kairi's life. The nervous feeling had come back to her and she didn't know what to say to try and start a conversation. She just watched Sora row and looked up at the stars and then looked back at him. The whole time Sora was looking down at the water, watching his rowing.

When they made it to the little dock on the island, Sora pulled up to the dock and jumped out, pulling the rope from his boat and making sure it wouldn't float away. When he made sure it was secure he turned to Kairi and helped her out of the boat.

She got up to her feet and took his hand and was about to step up on the dock when her shoe got caught on the edge and lost her balance. She closed her eyes and braced herself for she thought that she was either going to fall back into the water or hit hard on the dock. But instead of hitting something hard or wet she fell into something somewhat soft. Opening her eyes she saw that she had been caught by Sora. Her hands were resting on his chest and his one arm was around her waist while the other was supporting her back.

"That was close." He laughed as he looked down at the startled Kairi. He was lucky that he had caught her or she would have hit the dock real hard.

They just stood there for a moment, Sora holding her close to him while she had her hands on his chest. They didn't say a word and all Sora could hear was the crashing waves and his own heart beating so fast in his chest. He didn't expect for her little trip to happen and now he had her in his arms while she had her face buried in his shirt.

"Thanks for catching me Sora." She looked up at him. "I can always count on you to catch me when I fall."

"You bet." He smiled back down at her and the two broke apart. "Shall we go to the beach?" He asked and watched as she nodded and with that the two headed off the dock and walked down to the beach.

They walked side by side down the sandy beach, listening to the crashing waves. The only light that they had was the soft blue glow from the full moon up above in the sky.

"It hasn't changed much since I've left." Sora spoke up as he stopped and placed a hand on a nearby tree. He watched as Kairi walked up beside him and she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. He turned his gaze from the tree to over his shoulder at the red haired girl beside him. "I've missed this place so much."

Kairi could see the sadness in Sora's eyes but she could also see that he was very tired. "Sora," She started, her voice full of concern. "You should have stayed home. You need your rest."

"But I wanted to come to the island with you." Sora said, looking back at the tree trunk. "I just wanted to spend some time with you." His hand slipped off the tree and he turned fully to face her. He was about to say something else but was cut off when suddenly Kairi crashed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I missed you so much Sora." She muffled into his shoulder as she hugged him.

He was a little shocked that she suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. He reacted by wrapping his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. He rested his cheek against the top of her head, breathing in her sweet smell as he hugged her close. "I missed you too Kairi. So much." He suddenly felt tired, like his energy had been sucked out of him. The countless fights that he had battled had suddenly caught up with him.

Kairi could feel that he was tired. His once strong hold on her had loosened and when she looked up at him she could clearly see the tired expression on his face. "Sora you like you're about to pass out." She said as she moved her hand from around his neck to on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go sit down."

Not having enough energy to protest he nodded and allowed Kairi to lead him to a grassy hill that overlooked the water. She helped him sit down before she sat down herself right beside him. They sat beside each other watching the stars twinkle in the blue-black sky above. There was a light breeze playing with their hair as they enjoyed the silence and being with each other.

"I love the sound of the waves." Sora sighed as he closed his eyes and let the sound of the ocean calm him. He was almost off in his own world when he felt something on both his hand and his shoulder. Opening his eyes he saw that Kairi had intertwined their fingers, holding hands and she had rested her head lightly on his shoulder.

"Thank you for bringing me out here tonight Sora." She whispered as she opened her eyes that she had closed to listen to the waves. Keeping her head on his shoulder she looked up at him, their faces were so close.

"Thank you for being here for me Kairi." He whispered back giving her hand a slight squeeze. He watched as Kairi pulled away from his shoulder. He turned his head and his blue eyes locked with her eyes. "And I'll always be here for you."

The only thing that was heard was the calm waves and the rustling of the tree leaves as the breeze blew through the island. The two didn't say anything for a while as they got lost in each other's eyes.

With their hands still intertwined, Kairi raised her free hand and lightly placed it on Sora's cheek. "We'll always be here for each other." She smiled as she turned her body closer to him. Her heart was pounding as she was very nervous but she knew that her feelings were real and true. She knew with all her heart that she loved him, more than a best friend.

Both moved closer to one another, still lost in each other's eyes. They were so close that their breath tickled each other's faces. Her heart was pounding so fast as she continued to look in Sora's eyes. Then her racing mind stopped on a tinge of doubt. What if Sora didn't feel the same way as her? She had thought that he had always liked her in that way but her mind turned against her for a second. She was about to pull away when Sora beat her to acting and captured her lips in a soft kiss.

Her eyes widened for a second but then closed them, melting against Sora's lips. It was soft and quite at first; both getting over the initial shock of their first kiss. Kairi moved closer, wrapping her arms around his neck and Sora resting his hand on the back of her head, deepening the kiss as the waves crashed around them.

Sora's body was on fire, like Kairi was awakening his soul. Something in his heart clenched with joy and the feeling of pure happiness almost made him want to explode. His heart pounded in his chest where Kairi's hand rested. He didn't want to let her go. His world was floating near that fabled land called Cloud Nine and he was afraid that if he let her go, everything was going to crash.

But everything was finally going his way. The battles with the Heartless and the Nobodies were finally over and he was home. Better yet, he was with Kairi now. He pulled away from the kiss, savoring the taste of her lips on his and rested his forehead against hers, just listening to their breathing. He closed his eyes, etching this moment in his mind forever. Opening his eyes again he smiled down at Kairi with such a genuine smile that hadn't reached his lips since before they left the island in their first journey.

Kairi pulled away from his forehead to look over at the shining black ocean in front of them. Her heart hadn't stopped its race in her chest. Her soul was shining inside of her, a fluttering feeling that couldn't seek out the words to explain. Placing a hand on her necklace, she smiled to herself as she could feel the light in her soul shine bright. Sora was her other half; two lights that found each other and their first kiss ignited that light inside of her.

Turning back to Sora, she intertwined her hand with his. "What do we do now that everything is over?" She asked, a sigh laced through the words that gave away that she was a bit tired. The two hour nap's rest she gained was starting to leave her and the affects of their final battle had started to ache her muscles. She looked over at Sora who had a thoughtful look on his face, pondering about her question. "We'll always be there for each other, right?"

Sora's thoughtful look left as a smile erupted on his face. He reached his empty hand up and cupped Kairi's cheek. "Right." He answered, studying her face lit by the moon above.

The two were quite for a moment, listening to the waves around them. Sora broke the silence by giving a content sigh and lay back on the grass, his hands resting behind his head and eyes glued to the stars. Kairi looked down at him, a smile crossing her lips as he allowed Sora to pull her down to lay with him, resting her head on his chest.

Nothing could have been more perfect. The waves were the quiet soundtrack to their night, as the couple watched the thousands of stars twinkle in the night sky and they lost track of time. The two almost fell asleep when dark storm clouds began to roll in, blocking the stars and the moon.

"It got cold pretty fast." Kairi said as the two sat up. She rubbed her bare arms, trying to warm herself. "Maybe we should head back home."

With that said, the two got up and headed to Sora's boat which was rocking in the now rough waves. They jumped in, untied the boat and rowed as fast as they could back to the main island. The waves were getting rougher and rougher, rocking the boat around while Sora tried his hardest to row back to the main dock.

They arrived at the dock safe and sound and Sora quickly tied his boat back to the post and they headed down the street. The light breeze had turned stronger as Sora walked Kairi to her house. As they turned onto the street Kairi lived on the clouds opened up and it started to rain. It was a light spit at first but then increased to a steady pour.

Laughing, Kairi grabbed Sora's hand and the two ran up on Kairi's lawn under the big tree right beside her window. When they were safe from the rain she turned to him and smiled brightly. "Thank you for taking me to the island, Sora." She locked eyes with him.

"Anytime." He smiled back at her as they both moved closer to each other. He felt her reach her hands out and grab his, intertwining their fingers. They locked eyes and moved closer again this time their lips meeting in another soft kiss.

They had gotten the same feeling, the sensation of their souls shining with a bright light as their lips met. When they pulled away the two smiled at each other, both blushing a little bit as they tried to calm their speeding hearts. There was a silence for a moment as they listened to the sound of the rain coming down, safe under the shelter of the tree. Suddenly there was a flash of lightning in the sky which made Kairi jump, pulling away from Sora's hands.

"Don't like storms?" He asked as she hugged herself, her arms wrapped around her body and her eyes were wide. He moved over to her and wrapped his own arms around her, hugging her close to him. She in turn placed her hands on his chest.

"I like the rain but thunder and lightning scare me." She whispered into his shirt and then looked up at him. "I've never told anyone that before." She admitted with a slight smile. There was another flash of lightning and she let out a squeak and buried her face in his shirt. "Don't leave me alone."

He could tell that she was really scared of this storm as he could feel her shivering in his arms. He hugged her closer, resting his cheek on her temple. "I won't leave you Kairi. Not if you're this scared." With that they turned to the tree, Kairi climbing up first and then Sora, slipping through the open bedroom window.

"I'll go get us some towels to dry off with." She said and quietly left the room to the bathroom on the other side of the hallway. She tippy toed to the stairway and saw that her parents were finally asleep. Opening the cupboard in the bathroom she got a few towels and then made her way back to her room.

While Kairi was gone Sora just stood there looking around at all the different things in the girl's room. He had been in her room a couple of times before when he was younger when he and Riku and the others would come and play with the red haired girl but he had never taken the time to actually see what she had in her room.

It was a good sized room with a twin bed, nightstand, desk, closest, book shelf. She had stuffed animals all over arranged in different ways with the big ones in the back and the small ones in the front. She had a few posters up of different music bands that she liked and had a lamp on her nightstand with her clock. It was a normal girl's room but compared to his it was so nice and clean. He remembered having toys everywhere on his floor and his bed was never made.

The click of the door being shut caused his to snap out of his thoughts and turn to see Kairi walking up to him with a bunch of towels under her arm and a tray with what looked like snacks.

"I thought you might want a snack so I got a few things." She said as she set the tray down on the floor. "We can watch TV for a while if you want." She saw Sora nod and the two sat down against the toy bench that was in front of the window and watched TV.

With the window shut and the rain pouring outside the two sat on the floor beside each other with the tray of snacks in front of them while they watched TV on her wall-unit. Kairi had gotten a blanket that the two shared and wrapped themselves in and Sora had a towel on his head. With the rain and rumbling thunder outside and the TV going inside the two sat beside each other, Sora's arm snaked around her waist while her head was resting on his shoulder.

Before their show was over or all the snacks were done the two had fallen asleep where they sat, Sora resting his head on hers. Kairi had forgotten about the storm and calmed down because she knew that Sora was there with her. There was no nervous feeling anymore because they both had confessed their love for one another and both knew that each other was going to be there in times of need.

Sora finally felt at peace, away from the battles, away from the enemies and he could finally rest and get some sleep knowing that his best friend Riku was back on the side of light and he was with them again. And he knew that Kairi, the girl that held his heart, he knew that she was safe and everything was set right again.

As he slept peacefully with the girl he loved, little did he know that his world was going to crumble around him again. That everything was going to turn upside down and nothing was going to be peaceful.

* * *

Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix

His Princess by AniuLonewolf


	4. Chapter 4

**His Princess**

**By ****AniuLonewolf**

**Chapter Four**

A couple days later Sora was well enough to leave the hospital. Ditching the plain hospital clothing he was forced to wear, he changed into his normal outfit. When he was done getting dressed, there was a knock at the door. Telling them to come in, he saw that it was Cloud who had come to take him to the base.

"You ready to go?" The spiky blond haired soldier asked as he watched Sora fix his jacket.

"Yeah." Was all Sora murmured and walked over to the guy. Not looking back, he followed Cloud down the hallway to the entrance of the hospital and they headed outside.

There was a pair of motorcycles in the parking lot. One was Cloud's, Fenrir, and the other was a spare, not Sora's real one since it was in the shop getting repaired. The two climbed on their rides and took off down the dirt road towards the base where everyone else was waiting for Sora to return.

While keeping his eyes on the road, he let his mind wander back to that first day back home - when he and Kairi had gone to the island and had their first kiss. It felt so long ago since that day and the warm feeling of her body next to his was almost wiped from his memory.

But that one day would never leave his thoughts. That day when everything started to crumble.

o-o Flashback o-o

It had been four months since Sora and Riku had returned to the island and life and become normal again, like they had never left. King Mickey, Donald and Goofy had long since gone back to their own world but the friends had promised that they would continue to write to one another and come for visits.

They had gotten a letter two weeks after they had returned home from their new friends from Disney Kingdom and in the letter King Mickey had said that everything was now back to normal and all the other worlds that they had saved were now safe again.

But they were wrong... they were all wrong.

Being back for the next four months made the battles part of the distant past. The three friends spent all the time they could on their island and with each other. On that one day Sora found Riku sitting on their normal meeting place, the bent over papou fruit palm tree, sitting there staring at the sun shining over the water. He had walked over to him and they started to talk about how their world was so small but it was part of something much bigger. All the worlds were connected and no one is alone.

That was when Kairi came running over to them, out of breath and holding onto something tight. When asked what it was she handed the bottle over to Sora.

It was a letter, from King Mickey and the others from Disney Kingdom.

Opening the bottle and getting the letter out, Sora unrolled the letter and began to read it, his two friends on either side of him reading the mystery letter as well. It wasn't like the other letter that they had gotten from the Mouse King before; this one was urgent and very troubling.

_Dear Sora, Riku and Kairi_

_It's been __a while since I have sent you a letter and I'm sorry you would have to hear the news like this but it was the only way. As I had said in the previous letter the worlds have returned to normal and everyone was safe and sound... that is no longer the case. A traveler scout had spotted something very troubling in the portal between two of the worlds. My men were doing research about it and their research seems to point to the one conclusion - that a new world is appearing on the map._

_I am very sorry that I have to do this and ask for you help but you are the only ones that can help us solve this mystery. Reports have shown that the mystery world is growing bigger each day and news from other worlds have said that heartless were appearing once more in their cities and attacking people._

_I understand fully if you are unable to come and help us. You all have been through so much I wouldn't want you to go through anything else of the sort. The mystery world is spreading through the other worlds and I wouldn't doubt that it would be coming for your little islands as well._

_Sincerely,_

_King Mickey_

The letter from King Mickey had torn his heart in two. Even thought the King had said that they didn't have to help they knew in their hearts that they had to. Even though the danger was just beginning they knew that if they didn't do anything to help more and more people would be in danger and it would spread to all the worlds including theirs.

After talking about it for a while between their families, they sent a reply back to Disney Kingdom saying that they would help. He remembered that day so clearly, the cold shiver that ran up and down his spine as he held Kairi close to him while they watched the Gummi Ship land in the grassy field in front of them. Riku was standing beside him, Akira crying in his arms not wanting to see him go. And their parents and the rest of the island's people were all behind them watching their three heroes go off and save the worlds yet again.

The door opened to reveal Mickey, Goofy and Donald waiting for the three. A slight breeze blew through the field as the three teenagers said goodbye to everyone and then turned to board the ship. He remembered the awkward silence as they went to take seats in the back of the ship. There was no warm happy greeting between the two groups of friends for they knew that there was no reason to be happy about. They all didn't want their next gathering after their last adventure to be this way but there was no way around it - they knew they were all going into a war that would change their lives.

That was three years ago and since then he hadn't stepped foot back on his home island. He missed his family dearly and the feeling of being far away from war had long since left his mind. He thought of how upset Kairi was as he held her close to him while they flew back to the Disney Kingdom. She kept her face buried in his chest as he did his best to whisper positive words to her.

But even his words didn't reach his own ears for he knew that there wasn't anything positive about the place they were going. While holding onto his girlfriend, he wondered sadly if this was going to be the rest of his life. He had thought with all his heart that after they had returned to their home, after their last adventure that they were free from this sort of thing. He had thought about it while in Kairi's room that night during the storm - that he could look forward to being a regular teenager finishing up school, getting a job, maybe someday getting married and settling down and starting a family. He wanted to be 'normal' with the girl he loved and wanted to share the rest of his life with. That's how everyone thought about their future but that letter on that day shattered those dreams for he began to think that war was his future and there was no way around it.

o-o End Flashback o-o

Cloud's voice snapped Sora out of his thoughts when the blond haired guy told him that they were close to the base now. But he didn't really care. He wished so hard that he would never have to step foot back in that place again but he knew that wouldn't be any time soon.

Thinking that, his thoughts took him back to the first time stepping into that cold building after a few days at the Disney Kingdom castle where everything was still warm and bright. This building was cold, sad and miserable for everyone knew what was to be discussed in every meeting. They were in a long, gruesome and terrible war that no one knew how long it would last. Or how many friends would be lost.

When they parked and got off their bikes, they headed to those same double doors that Sora remembered walking into those years before with his best friend and his girlfriend beside him. The two soldiers walked through the doors into complete chaos that neither of them expected to come to.

There were people running around everywhere. Looking around, Sora realized that most of the people running around were nurses with medical supplies. Watching the frantic nurses, he saw in their hands were bandages; some were clean, others were bloody. The whole scene made Sora's stomach turn and he grew angry again. Even though being in the presence of war for a while now he still hadn't been able to completely stomach the whole reality.

"The scouts must have come back from their mission." Cloud said calmly. He had accepted the reality of it all long ago and was used to the situation at hand unlike Sora. "Come, the King wants to speak with you."

With not saying a word, Sora followed after Cloud, walking beside him down the main hall then turning down smaller branches until they left the frantic scene of the nurses. While walking, Sora glanced up at Cloud from under his bangs many times and wondered how Cloud got mixed up in all of what was going on. The blond spiky haired guy had never been the talkative type and aside from fighting alongside him and ever since _she _was taken, Sora had found himself drifting more and more to hang out with Cloud, being quiet and brooding like the blond warrior.

His thoughts were cut off when Cloud stopped at a closed door and turned to Sora. "The King is waiting inside for you." He said as the two locked blue eyes with each other. Sora gave a nod and then took a step towards the door. He was about to step inside when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up he locked eyes again with Cloud. "Be careful out there next time Sora." Was all Cloud said and with that he turned a walked down the hall to a meeting of his own.

After Cloud disappeared behind another door, Sora turned his attention to the door in front of him and reached his hand up to open it. Stepping inside he saw that his friends were sitting at a round table looking up at him as he entered the room. He looked up from the floor and saw both Donald and Goofy sitting at the table both smiling at him but he could see the worried looks in their eyes. On the other side he saw his best friend Riku sitting beside King Mickey. Sora was quiet as he sat down on the other side from the four, facing them and crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's good to see you up and about Sora." Mickey broke the silence that was building.

Sora nodded a bit, trying to show a smile to show that he was ok. He looked around the room and saw that there were no papers on the table, not notes of war or anything. It was just his friends and him in the room that was only lit by only the four big windows behind the Mouse King. "What was the meeting about the other day that I missed?" Sora suddenly spoke up sitting up in his chair a bit. He looked over at Riku and then back at the King.

"We had agreed to send out a scouting troop to the previous battlefield to see if there as any information we could collect on the enemy." Mickey spoke up as his eyes looked down at the table. "There was a surprise attack and there were injuries."

Sora gritted his teeth together as he remembered the frantic nurses in the front rooms when he entered the base a few minutes ago. This was the mission that Cloud was talking about. "Did they get anything while they were out there?" He asked.

"Yes." Riku spoke up, talking in the place of the King. "When this had all started we had thought that Maleficent was in control of the Heartless, controlling them to do what she wanted."

"What? Did we miss something?" Sora asked.

"Well no, she was controlling them but someone was behind all of this. Someone was controlling _her_ to do their bidding. Some of the soldiers think that it was the creatures called Nobodies and Xemnas that were behind the heartless and this may be so but the connection between the existence of Kingdom Hearts and the Seven Princesses of Heart might be..."

"What?" Sora cut his friend off by standing up, knocking his chair over. "I thought that Princess issue was done and over with!" He thought back to that day when he ran into that castle and saw all the princesses in those test tube-like cages in some kind of sleep as their pure souls and hearts were being used somehow to open Kingdom Hearts. His mind took him back to that day when he saw Kairi laying on the floor; the truth was that she was a Princess of Heart as well.

It all came back to him too fast and he felt his anger boil almost until breaking. His body pulsed all over as he tried to stop his mind from showing him that day again. He didn't want to remember any of it. He wanted to forget.

"It seems that Maleficent didn't collect all the princesses." Riku said as he glanced out the window. "She had said that she collected six princesses when in reality there are more."

"But how could she have mixed that up?" Sora asked in complete shock.

"I don't know but I had gotten mixed up as well when I almost kidnapped that young girl, Wendy." Riku spoke of the time when he was under Malecifent's control. "I had felt the same feeling with Alice. The two young girls are not princesses but they do possess strong hearts and pure souls. Just not the ones in order to open the door."

"So both Wendy and Alice weren't who Maleficent needed? But then you said that she didn't get them all." Sora pointed out, sitting back down in his chair as he had calmed down a bit. "Are there others?"

"Yes." Mickey continued on. "Reports from all the different worlds have said that all the Princesses of Heart give some sort of sign or a feeling. Maleficent was right when had captured Belle, Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine, Cinderella and possibly Alice but she didn't know about the others. There are three more princesses." Sora knew full well that King Mickey skipped over the part where Kairi was included in the list of princesses for Sora's sake. And he silently thanked the mouse king for when his own thoughts spoke her name, his heart started to ache.

"You already know two of them. Your reports had shown you went to the Land of Dragons and Atlantica correct?" Riku questioned his best friend. "Both the mermaid Ariel and Mulan are showing the signs that say they are also Princesses of Heart. But the other one is in a world that you have never gone to before that was why the last princess was so hard to track down."

"So where are the princesses now?" Sora asked.

"They are coming here to be protected. Whoever is pulling the strings here wants them again as we have already seen when they had captured Kairi." Riku pointed out. As soon as the words left his mouth he wished they hadn't. Any mention of Kairi would send Sora up the wall and make him go crazy in anger. It had happened before.

But to Riku's surprise Sora remained calm and collected in his chair at the table. He couldn't see his friend's face for he had his head bowed and his bangs were covering his eyes. "I will get her back." He heard Sora say.

"Well to wrap up this meeting the last Princess is a forest like world were Native People live. Her name is Pocahontas and she lives in a world with no sort of technology which would be one of the reasons she was never found before." Riku summed up the report and with that he stood up followed by Mickey and the quiet Donald and Goofy who quickly left the room.

Riku walked over to Sora and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get her back Sora. No matter what."

"No." Sora sighed as he looked up at Riku. "_I'll_ get her back. It was my fault in the first place. I am the only one to blame for what had happened and I will be the only one to set it right." He said as he stood up from his chair.

"You can't keep hiding yourself away Sora." Riku said very sternly. "Stop shutting yourself away from everyone. You can't fight this war by yourself."

"I'll do whatever I want dammit. Forget everyone else; I'm going to find Kairi - now!" Sora yelled as he made his way to the door but he was stopped by the firm hand on his shoulder. "Let go Riku."

"I won't let you go by yourself. We're in this together." Was what the silver-white haired teenager said.

"Do I need to repeat what I just said?" Sora asked as he turned around to face his friend once more. "I'm going to get her back by myself."

"You don't even know where to look for her. What are you going to do? Search every inch of every single world that's out there?"

"If that's what it takes." Sora murmured, looking down at the ground.

"Each little star in the sky is a different world; you can't possibly go to every single one." Riku said, anger very clear in his voice.

"Shut up." Sora said under his breath. "I don't need anyone to help me. I can do this on my own." He tried again to head out the door but this time Riku moved up to him and grabbed him by the scuff of his jacket and held on tightly.

"No, you shut up Sora. I know you're upset about what is going on but you have to get a hold of yourself and think things through. Your anger is making you blind to reality and you jump into battles without thinking. You do it every time and you almost get killed every time." Riku said as he locked aqua blue eyes with stone blue eyes that were Sora's. "You would be dead out there already if I wasn't there to save your ass every time."

Sora dropped his gaze from Riku's piercing eyes to look back down at the floor. Riku had always been the taller of the two and with his holding onto his jacket Sora could only touch the floor with his tippy toes.

"I know what you're going through, I feel the same way as you do. Don't forget you moron, I have a girlfriend too and I haven't seen her either since _she_ taken away." He gave Sora a slight shake. "Don't forget she was taken away from me like Kairi was taken away from you."

It was true. Riku's girlfriend - Akira - the very same girl that he was dancing with on the first night they were back home, she had been kidnapped too along with Kairi.

His mind went against him once again as he was reminded of that horrible day. It seemed that nothing but horrible days plagued Sora's dreams, poisoned his heart and hardened his soul. During a war like this, light against dark, there were no happy days to lift up any ounce of hope Sora's heart still held onto.

His memories took him back to the night before it had all happened. Back a year and a half ago in the middle of summer. The war had reached a pause if only for a while but still the week off from fighting was good for the soul of a soldier.

o-o Flashback o-o

They were at supper, the first real meal he had had in a while since they had started fighting in the war. They were at the Disney Castle in the grand hall sitting at a very large table with all their friends around enjoying each other's company and enjoying the wonderful food. King Mickey and Queen Minnie were at the head of the table followed by Donald and Daisy and Goofy and some of the other Disney Castle members and of course there was Leon and Cloud and the others.

It was a big supper. On the other side of Mickey was Riku, his girlfriend Akira who had joined them a couple months after they had left the islands. Kairi was sitting beside her friend and Sora was sitting on the other side of her.

Everyone was having such a great time but all too soon was it over and time to head for bed. The four teenagers headed down their hallway to their bedrooms. The two couples stopped at the end of the hall, their four rooms clustered together. Sora's room was beside Kairi's and across the hall was Akira's whose room was beside Riku's.

After saying goodnight everyone went to their own rooms. Sora walked into his room and closed his door softly. Looking around at the room he felt that familiar emptiness that he had felt before. The feeling of knowing this wasn't his real room, his real room was back at his real home, with his family on Destiny Island. But he knew that he wouldn't be going back there anytime soon.

While getting changed into his pajamas he thought about the past events. It had been about two years since he had left his home again to help the King and the others fight in the war. It had been almost two years since he had Kairi had confessed to each other and now were girlfriend and boyfriend. His heart felt heavy with the experience of war but at the same time it was still happy due to the love that he had with Kairi. He had always told himself that as long as Kairi was with him and they had each other then he would be able to make it through the war.

After getting changed into simple shorts and t-shirt for pjs he crawled into his bed and pulled the covers up to his shoulder as he lay on his side as stared out the window that overlooked a section of the courtyard of the castle.

His thoughts turned into dreams as he floated off into sleep unaware of the storm clouds that were rolling in. About an hour later there was a quiet knock on his door that earned his attention and he jumped out of bed. Walking over to the door he quietly pulled open the door to be shocked to see Kairi standing there in her own pjs which were a pair of sweatpants and a tanktop.

"Is everything ok?" He whispered. He saw her shake her head and quickly led her inside his room and led her over to his bed. "What's wrong?" He asked softly as sat down beside her.

"I can't sleep. Every time I try and close my eyes I get a flashback of bad memories." She whispered and raised her hands to her head, placing her shaking hands on her ears as if to keep out the bad memories. Suddenly there was a soft flash of lightning outside followed by a quiet rumble of thunder. The storm was coming closer.

Sora turned to face her more and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder but when he felt that she was shaking he pulled her into a soft hug, wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek on her head. He felt her move in his arms, turning to return the hug, her arms softly around his waist.

"I'm scared of what's going to happen to us." She whispered into his shoulder. "I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen."

"Nothing is going to happen, I promise you that Kairi." Sora whispered back as he pulled her closer. "I will always be here for you." He felt Kairi move her head to look up at him and he looked down to meet her gaze. He saw that tears were threatening to fall but she was fighting them back.

Without another word spoken between them Kairi moved closer to Sora until their lips met in a soft kiss. Outside the rain started to fall, first softly but then grew into a gale storm with the rain pounding on the window. A bright flash of lightning lit up the room followed by a booming crash of thunder which made Kairi jump, pulling away from Sora's kiss.

They both turned to look out the window; the wind was howling outside and very powerful, bending the trees with its mighty force. The rain was falling like buckets and lightning was dancing through the sky both dashing through the clouds and some striking down into the earth. It was now two in the morning and both could feel the effects of the lack of sleep and yawned at the same time.

"Where did the time go?" Kairi let out a half laugh as she was about to get up from the bed and head for the door. "I guess I better..." As she turned around to say goodnight to Sora he pulled her back into a hug as well as a kiss which she returned without a second thought. As she pulled her arms up around his neck she felt him wrap his one arm around her waist while the other was cupping her cheek.

If only for a moment the two forgot about the storm that was now raging behind them on the other side of the window, for a moment they forgot about that they were in the middle of a war. All they thought about was each other as they held onto one another and continued to kiss, knowing that they were going to be safe as long as the other was there for each other.

After the need for air broke the two apart, Sora continued to hug Kairi close to his chest. "Do you want to stay with me for the rest of the night?" He asked and pulled away a little as Kairi looked up at him. All of a sudden he felt nervous, awkward. "Well I mean since you said you were having trouble sleeping I thought if you... stayed with me... then you would be able to relax."

Kairi couldn't help but smile at his attempt to make a sentence. She knew what he meant - nothing like that. They had been together for a little over two years now and they were completely comfortable with their feelings and everything but she knew that Sora thought that the question would be taken the wrong way which Kairi couldn't help but giggle at.

She reached her one hand up and placed a finger over his lips to silence him. "Calm down I know what you mean." With that the two crawled into Sora's bed and under the covers. Sora was laying closest to the wall with his back facing it while Kairi cuddled up to him, loving the feel of her boyfriend's arms around her.

It had seemed that right after she had talked to him about her nightmares and hearing his calming words her fears slowly started to fade away into the depths of her mind where she completely forgot about them. Her nightmares and bad feelings pushed away the feeling of being tired rushed over her quickly and as she got comfortable in Sora's arms she quickly fell into a peaceful dream.

It wasn't long before Sora realized that his girlfriend was fast asleep in his arms. Even though the storm was still ragging outside it seemed in the far distance as he too followed Kairi into a peaceful dream. One that took him back to his home on Destiny Islands with his family and friends and girlfriend. His dream was so vivid that it was almost like he was there, feeling the welcoming warm sunlight from the bright blue sky and loving the sound of the rhythmic waves.

The couple dreamed soundly that night in each other's arms as the terrible storm thrashed about on the other side of the castle walls. It was the course of nature to have storms here and there but no one realized that this storm was a warning of the terrible events to follow. And little did the sleeping couple know but it would be their last night in each other's arms and the last night they would ever have peaceful dreams again.

* * *

Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix

His Princess by AniuLonewolf


	5. Chapter 5

**His Princess**

**By: AniuLonewolf**

**Chapter Five**

Lightning lit up the hallways through the windows as a figure quietly opened her bedroom door. Dressed in purple pants and matching tanktop that were her pjs, she turned to her door and tried to make as little noise as she could while trying to shut it. Taking a deep breath she looked out the window once more and flinched as another lightning flash came alive in the sky.

Turning her gaze to the door to her right she took another deep breath and tipped toed over to it; she knew that the floor creaked a little. Placing a hand over the doorknob she slowly twisted it, hearing the door open.

The room was dark, not that big but enough for one person. She quietly walked over to the double sized bed and couldn't help but smile as she looked down at the sleeping guy in front of her. But when she saw the expression on his face, her smile faded and she looked down at him with pity in her eyes.

His nightmares were back again and wouldn't leave him alone. Sweating and twitching in his sleep, he tried to get away from the monsters that haunted his sleep. He started to mumble something that she couldn't make out and he tossed and turned.

As quietly as she could so she wouldn't startle him, she climbed into the bed beside him and pulled the sleeping boy into her arms. She hated to see him this way; she was unable to do anything to stop his nightmares. She gently ran her fingers through his long silver hair while whispering soft words to him, trying to wake him up.

"It's ok Riku." She whispered to her boyfriend as she continued to run her fingers through his hair. "It's just a nightmare. Wake up."

His expression on his face was wrinkled in fear and pain as he tried to wake up from the nightmare. Then as soon as the nightmare engulfed his dream, it was gone and he woke up.

She looked down at him again her emerald green eyes locked with his aqua eyes. They just stared at each other for a moment before he sat up and looked over at her. "How long have you been here?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Not that long." She answered, placing a soft hand on his bare shoulder; he was only in his boxers after all. "What was your dream about this time?"

He turned his gaze away from her to look down at his blanket. "Just of the past." He said gruffly. He turned back to her, his bangs covering his eyes as he always had his hair that way. "And how I hurt my friends." He let out a sigh as he ran his own fingers through his hair and then turned back to his girlfriend. "Akira, I promise you that I would never ever hurt you." He reached a hand up and cupped her cheek. "I love you."

The black haired girl looked up at him, trying to connect with his eyes. She reached one hand up and brushed his bangs away from his face. "I know Riku." She whispered as she placed a hand on his cheek. "I love you too." She was about to say something else when she was cut off when suddenly he captured her lips in a fiery kiss which she didn't hesitate to return.

Without pulling apart from each other Akira moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, loving the feel of his lips against hers. Riku wrapped one arm around her waist pulling her even closer while his other hand rested on her shoulder.

As the two continued to make out, Akira suddenly felt tears fall from her eyes. She had gotten the same feeling as she did that caused her to wake up in the beginning. It was like a shiver crawling up her back, telling her that she was never going to see Riku again. She couldn't help but let the tears stream down her cheeks as she continued to kiss her boyfriend but she couldn't help but wonder if it was going to be their last kiss.

When Riku opened his eyes he saw that Akira was upset. Seeing that she was crying he pulled away from her. "Akira, what's wrong?" He asked in shock. Why would she be crying?

Trying to hold back her tears was a losing battle and she couldn't help but choke out a sob. "I-It's nothing." She tried to lie.

"Akira..." Riku tried to get out but she cut him off.

"Please Riku don't talk." She sobbed as she reached a hand up to cup his cheek. "Just don't leave me."

He didn't know what had gotten her so upset but he could tell that she didn't want to talk about it just yet. He was about to say something when all of a sudden a strong gust of wind blew through his room. Pulling Akira close to him as he thought it was an attack he then realized what it was and relaxed. It was only the window that had blown open.

Pulling away from his girlfriend, he got up from his bed and walked over to the troublesome window and pulled it shut, locked it and pulled the blinds closed. As he turned around to walk back to his bed Riku was surprised to see Akira up, standing in front of him her body shaking as she continued to sob.

Again he tried to say something but this time nothing would come out in the form of words. She clearly didn't want him to leave her alone and he had no intention to, not if she was this scared of something. He walked over to her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders and locked eyes with her.

"I'm not going to leave you." He whispered as he captured her lips in another kiss. The kiss was soft and gentle at first but as Akira placed a hand on his bare chest and running her fingers through his hair with her other hand, she turned it into a fiery kiss once again. Riku acted by placing one hand on her hip and the other supporting her upper back.

The need for air broke the two apart when they did Riku gathered Akira up in his arms and carried her bridal style over to his bed. Gently placing her down he then climbed into bed with her, pulling the covers up. When he got comfortable he pulled Akira into another hug, holding her tight as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry Riku." Akira whispered as she buried her face into his bare chest. When asked sorry for what she responded by saying that she was sorry for acting strange and crying.

"Don't be sorry." Riku whispered to her as he ran his hand down her bare shoulder.

"I just have this horrible feeling that something is going to happen soon." She said, feeling the threat of tears again.

"What kind of feeling?"

"The kind of feeling that I'm never going to see you again." She said and Riku felt her body shiver.

"Nothing bad is going to happen." Riku said softly as he saw Akira look up at him. "I promise." To seal his promise he gave her a soft kiss on the lips.

The two were quiet for a minute, just loving the feel of each other in their arms.

"Akira?" Riku whispered, wondering if his girlfriend had already fallen asleep. But when he felt her move and heard a murmur he continued on with that he was going to say. "Um... after the war will you..."

Riku nervous? She had never heard him falling over his words before. Well there was the first time the two had gone out on a date but after that he wasn't nervous. Lifting her head from his chest she looked up at him. "Yes Riku?"

"I um... after the war will you marry me?" There he said it. It was out in the open now.

Akira's green eyes widened as she heard the words come from the guy she loved. She looked up at him and she saw that he was looking down at her waiting for an answer.

"I understand if it was too sudden..." Riku blurted out, trying to pull is words back. He didn't want her to feel pressured into anything. He was about to continue blurting out words when suddenly he was cut off this time by Akira pulling him into a kiss.

When she pulled away she couldn't hide her smile. "Yes." She said and couldn't hide the laughter in her voice. "Yes Riku I will marry you." This time she couldn't help but let her tears fall down her cheeks; this time they were tears of happiness.

Hearing those happy words Riku couldn't hold back his smile as he hugged Akira closer to him, capturing her lips in another kiss. "I love you Akira." He whispered as he rested his chin back on her head.

"I love you too Riku." Akira whispered back as she rested her head back on his chest, hearing the sound of his beating heart.

With their fears pushed away for the night, the couple both fell into peaceful dreams their nightmares far away. But as Riku and Akira slept, as Sora and Kairi slept in Sora's room, as the entire castle slept soundly through the thunder storm no one expected what would happen the next day. Kairi and Akira were right when they felt that something horrible was going to happen.

o-o-o-o

The next morning the storm continued to rage violently outside. Some of the trees in the forest by the castle were losing their branches to the strong force of the wind and leaves flew around everywhere, being carried off by the wind. As the rain continued to pelt hard against the windows everyone stayed inside.

As his body told him that it was morning Sora opened his eyes trying to shake the fuzziness from his vision as he slowly woke up. He was about to sit up when he felt a weight on his chest. Looking down a smile formed on his lips as he remembered that it was Kairi who was sleeping on his chest. His arms were wrapped around her shoulders and he loved the feel of her beside him.

The sound of thunder rumbling outside caught his attention as he tried to crane he neck in the direction of his window. But hearing Kairi mumble something and seeing her tighten her grip of his t-shirt he stopped moving and rested his head back down onto his fluffy pillow. He was so content and peaceful; he could stay like this forever.

Well maybe not forever - his foot was falling asleep and the needle feeling of his muscles being numb was starting to hurt.

Suddenly, even without knocking, Riku barged through the door making Sora jump and waking Kairi who had been sound asleep. When the white haired boy had charged through the door he had scared Kairi so bad that she jumped out of Sora's arms, fell on the floor and let out a loud scream.

"Geez Riku, it would have been nice to knock first." Sora half laughed as he helped his girlfriend off the floor and back to her feet.

"Yeah well that's nice and all but we didn't have the time. There's been an attack outside the castle walls and the King wants us to check it out." Riku said all in one breath and with that he told them to get changed and meet him and Akira outside right away and then he slammed the door and left.

"What the hell was that?" Sora said gruffly as he walked over to his window to see the weather outside. The monster of a storm was still attacking Disney Castle and showed no signs of letting up. "What's with this storm?" He murmured to himself. He continued to stand there and look out the window for a while until he felt Kairi place a hand on his shoulder.

Looking over his shoulder he met Kairi's teary eyes. Without saying a word Sora turned around and wrapped his arms around her in a warm hug. Kairi pulled her arms up and hung them around his neck, her face buried in his chest, never wanting to let go. The threat of the war was hanging over everyone's head, especially the two couples.

"Everything is going to be ok Kairi." Sora whispered as he felt Kairi start to shake.

"I know." She said as she looked up to meet his lips in a soft kiss. "I just can't shake this horrible feeling." She said and laid her head back down on his chest.

The two held onto each other for a moment longer than pulled apart, Kairi leaving Sora's room to go get dressed while Sora also changed. The two met in the hallway and walked with each other to the meeting room, holding onto each other's hand as they walked. They entered through the giant double doors and saw that everyone had already gathered at the table.

Donald and Goofy where sitting beside Leon, Yuffie, Cid and Cloud while King Mickey and Queen Minnie were at the head of the table. Riku and Akira were also at the table on the other side of Queen Minnie. They had been talking with each other but when they say Sora and Kairi enter the room they stopped and turned to look at their friends.

After Sora and Kairi sat down beside Riku and Akira, King Mickey cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Well good morning everyone, thank you for all coming here." He greeted as everyone nodded to him their good mornings. "To get to the point there has been an attack on the western wall by the waterfall." He said as he pointed to the giant map on the table. "I would like you four to check it out." He said as he looked over at Sora, Riku, Kairi and Akira. "The rest of you continue to do research on Planet X." He said, using the code name for the mysterious planet that had started all of this chaos.

With the meeting over everyone nodded and left the table. Cid and the others going their own ways to help out around the castle and Sora and the others went to the courtyard. While walking down the hallway Sora, Riku and Kairi all called out their keyblades. The silvery white of Sora's blade was called the Oath Keeper and it had a papou fruit keychain. Riku's was the dark keyblade known as the Way of the Dawn that the blade was in the shape of a bat-dragon wing. Kairi's was more of a feminine looking weapon with flowers on the blade known as Destiny's Embrace. Akira on the other hand didn't have a keyblade was skilled in fighting with her fists.

The black haired girl had arrived at the Disney Castle about three months after Riku and the others had left Destiny Islands. Knowing full well that she didn't have the gift to wield a keyblade she looked for other ways to help out. That was when Tifa had begun to teach her how to fight. With the months and months of training the two girls were almost equally matched in any fight.

Walking up to the giant set of double doors, the four lifted the hoods of their cloaks over their heads as the guards began to open the doors. The doors opened to a blistery wind that almost swept the four off their feet. The rain was pouring from the heavens so hard that their cloaks didn't seem to help out any. After hearing the doors being pulled shut behind them they headed down the cobble stone path towards the scene.

Sora kept his eyes on the path in front of him, his one hand was holding his hood to keep it from blowing off of his head and the other hand found its way to Kairi's hand, intertwining their fingers as they walked. The rain pelted against their bodies and the wind whipped them around but they continued down the path.

Along the journey to the waterfall in the western section of the castle grounds, Sora couldn't get his mind off of what had happened up until now. So many battles had taken place from the time he and his friends had arrived from their home. He had lost track of how many battles he had partaken in and how many heartless he had slashed down. It was something he had tried to keep track of but the one factor he couldn't forgive was how many times he had seen Kairi cry since they have joined the war.

o-o Flashback o-o

It had only been a couple hours since they had gotten off the Gummi and arrive at the Disney Castle. The three walked down the huge halls with Donald and Goofy until they arrived at the familiar double doors of the grand hall. There stood King Mickey and Queen Minnie to greet Sora, Kairi and Riku.

"We understand how hard this is to come back here from your home." The Queen spoke up in her soft voice as she stepped closer to the three teenagers. "Please, come with me and I will show you all to your rooms."

With that they followed Minnie and Daisy down the one hall to three doors at the end of the hall where their new rooms where. Opening the doors one by one, the three teenagers each went into their assigned rooms to unpack, Minnie and Daisy leaving them.

He couldn't help but sigh as he threw his small bag on the double bed. This bed was going to be his bed for the next... who knows how long. Looking at the neat and trim sheets that covered the bed he couldn't help but feel angry as he looked around the room. There was the bed of course and a small night table beside it and a desk against the other wall and a small closest. It felt so empty and he could feel the emptiness fill his heart. He wanted to be in his room back home on his island.

Anger suddenly filled his mind and the only way he could let it out was his fist hitting hard against the wall. His body began to shiver with both anger and fear as he left his hand against the wall and pressed his forehead against the cold wallpaper, his bangs covering his eyes. He was suddenly reminded of how much pain he and his friends had been through over the past few years and he knew full well that it was about to happen again. But why? Why did he have to help?

But there was nothing he could do right now and he realized this and let out a sad sigh as he lifted his head and walked slowly over to his backpack. There wasn't really anything in the bag, for what do you pack for when you don't know how long you're going to be away for? All he had was Kairi's lucky charm, Kairi's letter and a photo album of the times when war didn't hang over his head. Taking the turquoise coloured photo album out of his bag, Sora sat down on the bed and began to flip through the pages.

There were pictures of him when he was little with his mother and father and some of the gang at the island they used to play on. Then there were some when he started his journey with Donald and Goofy and the friends they made along the way like Aladdin and Hercules and many others. He had gotten lost in the pictures, feeling the warm memories come back when suddenly he heard something bang against the wall behind him.

Realizing that it was Kairi's room that was beside his, Sora jumped to his feet and walked out of his room and faced Kairi's closed door. Knocking gently on the door he didn't hear an answer. After a moment he heard another door open and when he turned around he came face to face with Riku.

"What was that sound?" The silver haired teenager asked as he walked up beside Sora whose answer was a shrug of the shoulders. "Did it come from Kairi's room?"

"Yeah it did." Sora answered as he knocked again a little louder just in case Kairi hadn't heard him the first time. "Kairi are you ok? It's me, Sora." He spoke up, hoping his voice would be heard by his girlfriend. When he didn't hear an answer he tried to see of the door was locked at all... it wasn't. Taking a deep breath he slowly turned the knob and peeked inside Kairi's room.

It was generally the same design as Sora's and he guessed Riku's was about the same. Taking a step inside Kairi's room, Sora's eyes fell upon his girlfriend.

Something was wrong.

"Kairi!" Sora gasped as he dashed over to his girlfriend who was facing the hall, her back to him, cuddled at the floor. He kneeled down beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder and that was when he felt her body shaking. Looking her over he saw that there were fresh tears streaming down her blush cheeks and she was holding her left hand close to her chest. "Kairi what happened?" He asked as he moved closer to her, concerned for his girlfriend.

"I don't want to do this." She whispered out. "I don't want to fight anymore, I want to go home." She sobbed as she looked up at Sora with tear filled eyes and was met by his sympathetic eyes. She let out a half laugh as she looked from Sora to Riku and then back to her boyfriend. "Look at me, we just got here and I've already cracked." She said coldly, almost to herself as she looked down at her left hand which was still cradled in her other hand.

"Don't say that Kairi. It's ok to want to be back home. There's nothing wrong with the way you feel right now." Riku spoke up as he walked over to his best friends. Sitting on Kairi's bed, he leaned over and placed a gentle hand on Kairi's shoulder as a way to tell her that he and Sora were there for her.

"Riku's right." Sora agreed as he motioned to grasp Kairi's hands in his but that was when he saw why she was cradling her hand. His eyes wandered up to the wall that was in front of Kairi and sure enough there it was; a hole in the wall, right through both layers of wallpaper but the drywall stayed intact though dented pretty good. Looking back down at her hand he could see that the drywall had won over the punching match and left her knuckles cracked open and small trickles of blood flowed down her fingers.

"Kairi..." He whispered as he opened his arms and envelved her in a soft and warm hug, holding her head against his chest. He suddenly realized the pain Kairi had been dealing with up until now and his heart went out to her. But at the same time he felt angered that he wasn't able to ease her pain and that he knew that the pain was only going to get worse.

Having Sora pull her into a hug suddenly broke Kairi's concentration of keeping her composer and she lost it, breaking down in heavy sobs in her boyfriend's arms. Her face buried in Sora's chest, she began to pour her pain out in her tears and sobs as Sora continued to hug her close and she could feel Riku behind her, his hand never leaving her shoulder.

As Kairi cried, Sora looked up at Riku for he knew that Riku knew this adventure wasn't going to be easy on any of them. Sora's blue eyes then turned to Kairi's hand, the hand that had punched the wall and was still bleeding. He reached one hand out and gently laid it on her hand, knowing full well the pain she was going through but also the pain they were about to encounter with this war.

Oh yes he knew how Kairi felt for the hand that was holding Kairi's bloody hand was also covered in blood. But blood of his own for moments before he heard the thud, when he had felt that anger his own fist had dealt damage to his own wall.

* * *

Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix

His Princess by AniuLonewolf


	6. Chapter 6

**His Princess**

**By: AniuLonewolf**

**Chapter Six**

He could remember that moment even though it was that long ago and now he was holding Kairi's hand, the very same left hand that had punched the wall. He could remember other times when she had broken down in tears because of different events and he was there every time for her, to hold her and whisper to her that everything was going to be ok- even though sometimes he didn't believe his own words.

As they walked closer to the waterfall area he could feel that Kairi had started to shake. Looking over at Riku and Akira, the brunette told the couple to walk on ahead and that he and Kairi would catch up in a minute. Riku understood and he and his girlfriend continued to venture to the waterfall while Sora led Kairi over to a nearby tree to get away from the wind.

"Is something wrong?" Kairi asked as she placed a hand on her boyfriend's chest. The look in his blue eyes gave her a weird feeling, a feeling that gave her unfamiliar shivers.

"I don't know what is over that hill but..." Sora trailed off for a moment as if to collect his thoughts. While walking down the field he had started to get a strange vibe from where they were headed. "I want you to know that I... I love you."

Kairi was slightly taken aback since the tone Sora said those three words make a shiver crawl up her spine. His tone made her feel that there was something else that he was to say and she reached out and intertwined her hand with his. "Sora, tell me what's on your mind."

He suddenly couldn't make eye contact with her and he looked down at the dark green grass that was soaked with the pelting rain from the skies. "You know that feeling that you had last night. I think that feeling is getting to me too."

As she looked at her boyfriend, Kairi suddenly felt a very cold chill throughout her entire body and her heart skipped a beat. Her heart started to pound faster as Sora said his last sentence and the cold chill came from when she saw the look on his face. His face spelt out anger and fear at the same time. Kairi's heart was overcome with fear and she suddenly crashed herself into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tight. "Sora please, don't lose yourself to the darkness." She cried into his shoulder as she tried to force the tears back.

She was scared for him, scared that Sora's heart was going to be lost to the darkness. Ever since they had arrived at the Disney Castle she could feel that Sora was growing apart from everyone, more distant and quieter battle after every battle. She had become concerned for him when one day coming back from a battle he went straight to his room and locked himself away for hours. He wouldn't even let her in and it scared her.

Sora was a little shocked when his girlfriend suddenly wrapped her arms around him in a hug but he returned the gesture and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Don't worry Kairi, I'm still here." He half laughed as she pulled away from his shoulder to look at him. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He said with a sudden serious look on his face as his blue orbs locked with her purple-blue eyes.

"I know that." Kairi said as she rested her cheek on his chest, hearing his strong heartbeat. She had such a terrifying feeling that this was the last time she was going to be with him. She ran her fingers through his wet and slightly matted hair as the wind picked up, blowing her wet red hair in front of her face.

The two shared a passionate kiss, holding onto each other as the wind blew around them in a cold chill. Kairi held onto Sora, scared that if she let go he would disappear. The cold feeling of something horrible loomed over her and the feeling only grew with every moment. She kissed Sora with all she had, terrified that it would be the last kiss she would have with him and she could feel that Sora felt the same way.

When they pulled away the two didn't say anything as they looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then continued on towards the waterfall to meet up with Riku and Akira. When they arrived to the waterfall, both of their expressions were that of shock but they didn't have time to stop and contemplate what was going on. As they had arrived on the hill by the waterfall they came to the scene of chaos.

Heartless where everywhere. Sora didn't have time to stand there and count but he guessed there were over fifty or so. They were everywhere! Climbing in the wind shaken trees, coming out of the water and from behind the rockwall of the waterfall. Sora peered through the rain and spotted Riku and Akira down by the water's edge, back to back trying to fight against the black creatures.

"Come on!" Kairi cried out to her boyfriend and before he could say anything, she grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hill. As they came down the hill she let go of Sora's hand and called out her Keyblade. As she called it out, Destiny's Embrace appeared with a ray of flower petals and sparkles and she gripped the handle. Her cloak was blown back as she jumped into the air towards her friends. As she came down to the ground she held her blade over her head and thrusted it down onto two Heartless that didn't see her coming. As she landed on her feet she swung her blade around and knocked out three more creatures.

Sora was still standing up on the hill, his cloaked blown back by the force of the wind. He didn't care about getting wet, he could care less. All he cared about was the safety of his friends and his girlfriend. His Keyblade was already called out, his hand gripping it so tight that the skin over his knuckles were white with the lack of blood flow. His eyes followed the moves of each of his friends, Riku swinging his Keyblade in a blinding motion and killing all the nearby Heartless.

Akira was using the new techniques that Tifa had shown her and threw a series of punches and kicks, flipping in the air and totally kicking some butt. The thought allowed a small smile on Sora's lips but when his eyes looked over at Kairi his heart started to pound as he began to get nervous, watching her in the heat of the battle. Gripping his Keyblade's handle tighter he took in a deep breath and jumped down off the hill and into the battle. He swung his weapon over his head and down onto the unreal flesh of the creatures.

They didn't know how long they were fighting, creature after creature, but suddenly the Shadows were gone. The wind had died down a bit but the rain was still falling hard from the sky. The valley was suddenly quiet; the only thing that could be heard was the deep breathing from the four warriors. When the Shadows had all been taken care of the four had been scattered over the area and when the enemies were gone the teenagers walked up to each other.

Akira ran up to Riku and collided into the hug that he had waiting for her. Riku picked her up and twirled her around, laughter was heard from Akira as she caught her boyfriend's lips in a kiss. Sora watched them for a moment until he felt that someone was beside him. Looking beside him he saw that Kairi was walked up to him. She had a very pained expression on her face but he could see that she was trying to hide it. When she came up to him, he wrapped his arms around her body, holding her close to his chest. "It's not over yet." He whispered and he felt her nod her head in agreement.

Sora was about to say something else when there was a sudden tremor through the ground and an earth shaking roar that sent a chill down everyone's back. The sound came up from the crown of the waterfall and when everyone looked up there they saw a large shadow. There was a sudden explosion above the waterfall and rocks rained down.

Sora and Riku pulled their girlfriends close to protect them from the falling rocks. They all looked up to the wounded waterfall and saw that the giant shadow was taking a monstrous form. As the creature was forming there was suddenly a gang of larger Heartless around the four. Kairi and Akira pulled away from their boyfriends and took a fighting stance along with the boys behind them as the creatures advanced.

There was another deafening roar above them, turning their eyes away from the creatures below to look up at the giant monster above them. Thick black claws grabbed at the rockface of the waterfall so hard that the rocks were being crushed into dust. Black-blue scales gleamed in the sunlight that broke through the black clouds, the scales hiding the muscular body underneath. A long thick tail with spikes of emerald jade running up the spine of the body as the muscles rippled with anger. A large head thrashed around as another roar exploded from the throat of the monster.

Akira couldn't help but gasp out load as she fell back into Riku's arms. Kairi was stronger, seeing these shadow creatures before but she couldn't help but start shaking. Above them, on the crumbling waterfall was a gleaming black and roaring dragon. But this monster was different from the other Heartless. The creatures down below were squirming uncontrollably, trying to keep their form in this unfamiliar world, this dragon was in control of its form.

"So these are the wretches that she spoke of." A deep growling voice rose from the dragon's mouth. Two giant leathery bat-like wings unfolded from across her back to spread out above her, making her look even more monstrous and huge. Piercing yellow reptile-like eyes looked around at her surroundings as her monstrous jaw rested agape, sharp pearl white teeth, like knives showed in the dim light.

Sora watched in both horror and awe as the giant dragon bowed her head, her long neck lowering so that the dragon could get a better look at them. He then noticed that ever since the monstrous dragon had arrived, the surrounding Heartless had stopped and seemed to be taking orders from the dragon. Wide blue eyes looked back up at the dragon as the blue-black creature straightened up and flapped its wings.

One flap of the huge wings was stronger than the highest wind gust that the storm around them had delivered. The four warriors were knocked off of their feet, holding onto each other as the gust continued, getting stronger as the dragon lifted itself off of the waterfall and landed down a couple meters away from them. When the dragon's four large clawed paws rested on the ground, the wings stopped flapping but rested high and unfolded.

When the wind stopped Sora managed to lift his head and watched as the dragon reached her head out to look at them again. From being up on the waterfall to being only a few meters away, the dragon was even bigger than Sora could imagine. He could see the scales that covered the dragon's body and the blue-blackish tint of her colour.

"So you must be Sora." The dragon roared, the voice coming from her throat but not needing to move her frightening jaw, her pearly white fangs gleaming. "She told me much about you and how you foiled every one of her plans." A deep growl erupted from her chest.

"W-Who!" Riku managed to ask as he held Akira close to him. The dragon snapped away from Sora and looked over at Riku, waiting for him to continue. "Who is this person you are talking about?"

A deep menacing sound came from the dragon's chest but it wasn't a growl or a snarl. It was a deep string of laughter as the dragon lifted her head and her jaw continued to be open slightly, her fangs seemed sharper than they were before. "Who do you think, you stupid human. Maleficent of course." Her yellow eyes seemed to gleam even brighter as she spoke her name.

With the pressure of the wind finally gone, Sora and the others were able to stand up. Kairi kept close to Sora and Akira hid behind Riku as the two guys held their Keyblades out, ready to fight. Now that they knew that Maleficent was involved in this, it was more serious that they first thought. And now with this dragon it was even more dangerous.

The laughter suddenly stopped and turned into a terrifying snarl and they turned back to the dragon. But before they could do anything the dragon moved in lightning speed. Kairi held her hands above her face, scared of what was going on but when she looked up Sora wasn't beside her. Looking around she let out a gasp as she saw the colossal winged reptile had pinned Sora against the wall.

The giant clawed hand had pinned Sora's body against the hard wall of rock, her claws digging into the rockface. Sora's head with spinning as the force of the dragon's movement had thrown him hard and his head had smashed against the rock. He didn't know what was going on as the dragon moved with such speed. All he knew was that he couldn't move and that his side was flaring in pain. He gave out a cry of agony as one of the dragon's claws had dug into his waist. When he opened his eyes he was terrified when he saw that the dragon was right in his face.

"You were the one who stood in front of our dream. My dream." The dragon snarled, Sora could feel the warm breath on his face. Her eyes gleamed in anger as she studied the boy in her clutches.

"W-What are you talking about?" Sora breathed as he tried to pick up his fallen weapon but it was too far to reach. Gritting his teeth, he looked up at the giant creature with such anger in his blue eyes.

The dragon didn't say anything but her expression turned into a smirk on her reptine face. Without another word, the dragon's head had turned to the Shadows and with a flick of her tail, as a signal she told the creatures to move.

Sora watched in horror and tried to move but the dragon's giant paw still had him pinned to the wall. Sora tried to move but he couldn't budge and when he moved his body flared in pain from his bleeding wound. He watched as the Shadows moved around his three friends. He watched as Riku recalled his blade and began to attack and from where Sora was being held it looked like Riku and the others were winning but the expression on the dragon's face faltered his belief.

"Now you will feel the pain that I felt." The dragon voiced, drawing Sora's attention back up to the reptile. "I will show you true pain." The dragon snarled down at the Keyblade Wielder. "True pain so that every moment that you are awake you will search for me to the ends of the worlds and every dream you have will turn into nightmares where my image will haunt you." As the dragon spoke the Shadows dogpiled Sora's friends and when they moved away. Riku, Akira and Kairi were being pinned against the wall on the other side of the waterfall. They were gasping for breath and seemed to be in pain.

"What are you going to do?" Sora cried out to the creature but instead of answering him, the dragon let him go. With the moment of freedom he called out his Keyblade and jumped away from the dragon. He landed only a few meters away from his captive friends and from the dragon.

Another smirkish expression appeared on the lips of the dragon as she unfolded her wings, lifting her head to give a deafening roar. "Show me what you've got Key wielder. I want to see if you are really worthy enough to be kept alive."

At the dragon's statement Sora's eyes widened in shock, but he quickly regained his composure and gripped his weapon's handle. He stood up to his feet, a little shaken but he regained stability. The wound in his side continued to bleed, the red blood soaking through his clothing. Gripping his weapon tighter, Sora took a leap into the air, towards the gigantic reptile. As he fell back down, he raised Oath Keeper above his head and with an angry cry he swung his blade down, bracing his body for the impact.

But there was no impact.

Sora opened his eyes and looked around. How could a monstrous dragon such as his enemy be able to move so fast? His eyes then spotted the winged beast flying above him. Her giant bat-like wings beating, the gust from the movement flattened the grass, bent the trees and even sent some of the weaker Heartless soaring as they couldn't get a grip on the ground.

"You really think you would defeat me that easily?" The blue monster roared loudly as she twisted around in the air before falling to the ground gracefully. As she landed, her tail swung out and knocked Sora off his feet, sending him into the nearby river that the waterfall ran into.

The water was freezing as Sora tried to pull his senses together. The force of the dragon's tail hit him so hard in the chest that it knocked the wind out of him as he crashed into the water. With a bit of struggling, the brunette managed to pull himself out of the river.

As he continued to gasp for air he looked up at the dragon and was about to jump at the reptile again when he was suddenly dog piled by Heartless that appeared from nowhere. He was knocked off his feet and to his knees as they climbed all over him. When he had crashed into the water his keyblade had fallen from his grip and was laying on the ground, just a meter away but he couldn't reach it.

"Sora! No!" Kairi yelled as she tried to pull away from the invisible binds that held her to the rock. She looked over at her two other friends, Akira had been knocked out and Riku was just coming back into consciousness. When she looked back over at her brunette boyfriend, her hopeful eyes saw that it looked like he was winning but then she saw that he was losing strength.

Her blue eyes turned from Sora to the monster that was behind all of this chaos. When she turned to look at the dragon she was suddenly terrified at how close the winged reptile actually was. She had moved when she wasn't looking and was standing right in front of her, her giant wings spread out and her mouth slightly open as she growled quietly.

Being so close to the creature made Kairi gasp in terror but she then realized all the little details of the dragon's appearance. When she had first seen the dragon she had thought that its scales were blue but up close she could see that each scale was a different shade of blue, even some green and purple ones. And they sparkled in the very dim and rare light as the sun was still struggling to fight the grey clouds. The two horns that grew out of the crest of her head looked like they were knives themselves and the one horn on the tip of her nose she figured was just as sharp. Her teeth hung from her gums in her mighty jaws as she glared at her with such piercing yellow eyes that made the breath from her lungs disappear and she couldn't breathe.

But she managed to tear away from her reptine gaze to try and see her boyfriend. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes as she watched her boyfriend struggle with all his might against the dark creatures. Kairi choked back a sob as she watched Sora fight the darkness around him, not just the physical strain but also in his heart. She suddenly had the heartbreaking shudder ripple through her body as she heard the dragon beside her thundering with laugher. Sora was losing.

No! She wouldn't let herself think like that! She couldn't let herself give up on Sora! She tried to pull her wrist away from the magical bindings but it was no use, she couldn't even make them budge and hung her head in shame, her rain soaked hair falling over her shoulders and in front of her eyes. She could then hear that Akira had woken up from being knocked unconscious and Riku was trying to talk to her. But she couldn't hear any words; her world was beginning to be frozen over as she was losing hope.

But suddenly there was a loud cry and a flash of blue that rocketed through the area. Everyone looked up to see the source of the flash of blue was from Sora. As they looked over to their friend they watched as the Heartless that had Sora bound were being blown away. Angry blue flames painted on the sleeves and pantlegs of his outfit as Sora changed into his Wisdom Form.

Muttering a painful groan as his wound still stung with pain, Sora struggled to his feet. Sweat dripped down his brow, his breath came out short and uneven as his lungs tried to stabilize themselves. When he got his footing again, he looked up from behind his soaked brown bangs and immediately his eyes locked with the pale blue eyes of Kairi's. He only had a second to lock eyes with his girlfriend before the scaly monster stepped in front of her but in that one second he could see the hurt and pain that clouded in her eyes.

But the eyes of his girlfriend's were blocked by the piercing yellow eyes of the dragon that stood between him and Kairi. His own eyes narrowed as he regained his footing. He raised it up with one hand and summoned the energy of his weapon. A silver-blue light formed from the tip of the Keyblade and shot out at the dragon. Sora watched with anger in his eyes as the beam shot from his weapon to the reptile in front of him.

Instead of taking flight into the air, the dragon just stood there with her eyes locked on the beam of light coming towards her. A reptine smirk appeared on her monstrous jaws again as the beam rocketed towards her but all she did was move her thick neck downwards. As she ducked her head the beam narrowly passed by her and hit the rock face behind her, just inches away from Kairi.

His heart stopped and his eyes widened in horror as he realized how close he was to actually hitting his girlfriend. But his shock was subsided when anger grew in him again. Using the power of his Wisdom Form he kicked up his feet and hovered above the ground. He floated around, trying to get at different angles to hit his enemy, shooting beams at the scaled creature. The first few shots where just deflected by the dragon's leathery wings as she unfolded them to cover her muscular body.

But the shots began to sting the dragon's scales after a couple of shots. A deep angry growl emitted from the dragon's throat, so loud that Kairi could feel the vibration in her chest, a cold feeling that froze her heart. She couldn't take her eyes off of the dragon as the reptile glared at her boyfriend, her yellow eyes shining as the black slits of pupils widened in anger. The pair of giant leathery wings opened to reveal her spiked back and her body contwisted to balance her giant tail. The large tail twisted around and smashed right into Sora and sent the brunette flying into the nearby rocks with a sickening thud.

"Sora!" Kairi managed to cry out as she watched the blue bleed away from his clothing - the Wisdom form had failed. She was about to try and call out his name again when there was another sudden glow that came from her boyfriend. She looked up with new hope in her eyes as she watched his clothes change once again - this time it isn't blue but the fiery red of the Brave Form that scorched his clothing as another keyblade appeared in his hand.

The red reflected into his eyes as Sora got up to his feet. It took much effort to get up, his muscles were screaming in pain and he was sure by now that he had a couple broken ribs by the intense flare every time he tried to breathe. But he wouldn't give up, he couldn't give up on his friends now. With shallow, painful breaths Sora looked up at the dragon, gripping both keyblades in each hand and setting his footing to make another move.

But the move never left the ground the dragon didn't give him time to recover. This time the dragon used her tail again to swing at Sora but the brunette tried to jump away. He had made it into the air of his jump but it cut too short and the tail slammed right into his waist, the sharp spikes digging into the flesh of his skin and tearing as the force of the swing sent him back into the ground.

"Sora no!" This time the cry was from not only Kairi but Riku as well who had found his voice. Kairi looked over to her left and saw that the white hair boy had regained complete awareness and was struggling against the binds but to no use, the binds were unbreakable. All they could do was watch as Sora was beaten again and again.

"Is that all you have key wielder?" The black creature muttered under her laughter as she raised a giant clawed paw up and took a step and then another step closer to Sora until she was towering over the broken body. The big black paw rose a bit and with a chuckle deep in the throat slammed down onto Sora's back.

The force of the step was deadly painful and Sora let out a cry in agony as he was pinned into the turf, again and again as the dragon continued to lift her paw and slam it down into Sora's back. There was nothing Sora could do, his body wouldn't move and his keyblades had been thrown to the side out of his reach. Each time the dragon's paw came down on his broken back he couldn't help but let out a cry, a cry which the dragon enjoyed.

"Stop it!" Kairi screamed as she pulled against the binds once again. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched her boyfriend be beaten within an inch of death and there was nothing she could do. "Stop please don't kill him! Do whatever you want to me but please don't kill him." She had no control over the words that were coming out of her mouth but she didn't care, the words were true and they came from the heart. She would give up her life for Sora's without a second's thought; she loved him that much.

The dragon seemed to hear her pleading words and she stopped stomping on Sora and turned her head around and glared at the weeping girl. "You would do that for this pitiful excuse of a warrior?" She blared out so loud that it made Kairi squeak in terror. Her eyes suddenly gleamed in pleasure and stepped away from Sora who didn't show any signs of life. But that was ok, the dragon had her fun with the boy and now she had the girl too? Today was her lucky day. And she was sure Maleficent too would be happy with her work today.

Kairi didn't see what happened next for it happened too fast but with one swift swing of her tail the winged reptile snapped the binds that held her up to the wall and before she knew it she was on the wet ground and staring up at the giant face of the monster before her. She could see, though not having the face of a normal human face the dragon was smiling out of pure pleasure for she was having her way. She was smiling at their pain and terror.

"Yes." She said with a bow of her head. "Take me instead and please don't kill him." She sobbed out as she closed her eyes, awaiting her death at the claws of the dragon. She sat there in the wet grass, the wind blowing random strands of her hair in her face, the minion Heartless circling around her as she waited for her death.

She could feel the mighty dragon above her move to strike and she prayed that she would keep her word and leave Sora alone. All she could think of was Sora and how badly he had been wounded. Wounded but not beaten. Sora was strong in her eyes and he would never lose a battle, she was just taking over the battle and saving him just like he had saved her so many times before. She was paying him back for saving her life when she was too weak. But to her, Sora was never weak. She only wished that they would have spent more time together. But just then a sense of peacefulness dawned on her; that the time that they had together was more than she could have asked for. She wouldn't have traded those memories for nothing else.

But the blow never came. She could feel the rift in the air current as the dragon had moved to end her life but the move never made it to her. Curiosity got the better of her and she opened her eyes only to be shocked at the sight before her.

Dawned in black, unnatural flesh such as the Heartless themselves - was Sora. Sora shadowed in complete black with piecing yellow eyes just like the creatures they fought against. He had no keyblade, no weapon at all. Sora had stopped the dragon's paw, a claw in each of his bare hands. His body towered over hers, protecting her from her fate of death.

Her body knew that it was Sora, her mind knew that it was Sora and yet she suddenly had a very uncontrollable and cold shiver run up and down her spine as she looked at the Sora in front of her. He was so cold, such a shadow - it was like he was one of the Heartless themselves.

"So you still have some life left in you?" The dragon's statement broke Kairi's trance as she snapped back into reality and looked up at Sora in front of her.

The shadow that was Sora didn't say a word as he let go of the dragon's paw. The dragon took a moment to recover for it seemed like the touch of Sora's palm had burnt her in some way but she shook it off. Kairi watched as Sora took his footing, ready to fight but before he took off into the air of a jump he turned around, his piercing yellow eyes connecting with hers. At first she wanted to look away, yellow eyes scared her in her nightmares. The memories of the Heartless and their past adventure came in the form of piercing yellow eyes and she couldn't bring herself to look at them but something inside her stopped her from moving.

Her eyes connected with those nightmare yellow eyes but her heart could see that there was something different about them. Whereas the mindless Heartless had pale, soul-less opaque yellow orbs, Sora's eyes had feeling behind them, a soul.

The moment was broken when he jumped into the air and moved with lightning speed towards the dragon. Even the dragon seemed shocked at the sudden quickness of Sora's step as the teenager suddenly appeared right in front of her and delivered a hard kick right in the reptile's face.

With his shadow powers, the dragon was thrown back a few metres from the kick and let out a cry in pain as well as shock as her head was thrown to the side. As the dragon tried to recover, Sora didn't give her a chance and delivered another hard kick and then another and then a round of punches. With his new powers, Sora seemed to have the upper hand in this battle and Kairi's hope brightened as she watched the battle from the ground. She watched as her boyfriend continued to beat the dragon, never letting the creature recover long enough to make a move.

He was so fast; he was so... so emotionless. In all his moves and actions he never uttered one word, one sound at all. He never blinked; it was like he was there but not there at the same time. Kairi watched with awe, never taking her eyes off of her boyfriend as he fought against the winged beast. It was almost like he was going to win.

Shattered.

Her hope was suddenly shattered as the dragon opened her jaws and clenched down on Sora's left leg. Her pearly fangs dug down into the flesh of Sora's leg and to Kairi's shock and surprise there was no blood. Sora was a Heartless and Heartless don't have blood, just unnatural flesh that was like a part of the shadows; evil itself. But Sora's soul was still there and when the dragon clenched down on his leg he gave out a cry in pain which rocked Kairi to the core. She could pick out the pitches of pain and agony but it wasn't the same cry as when Sora was normal, it was still unnatural.

With his leg still in her jaws, the dragon yanked Sora out of his jump and threw him back down to the ground. Kairi had to jump out of the way as to not get rocketed by her boyfriend's body as Sora landed just a few metres away. The force of the throw sent piles of turf into the sky as Kairi blocked her view with her arms.

A couple of seconds delay, Kairi pulled her arms away to see a crater was created by the force of the throw and inside the crater, at the center was Sora. She quickly got up to her feet and rushed over to her boyfriend. It took a second's thought but she quickly brushed it away and laid a hesitant hand on his back. Just as she thought, the feeling was cold and empty and felt like he would disappear underneath her touch, like she was touching clouds. "S-Sora?" She whispered out.

She could feel his body stirring under her touch but the moment was broken when she was suddenly surrounded by Shadow Heartless. They cut her off from her boyfriend and pulled her back out of the crater. When she was back up on the wet grass she looked up at around her and saw that the dragon was right above her. The winged creature didn't even give her a chance to get away and wrapped her tail around her. She could feel the spikes wrap around her body, pinching her skin but not cutting the flesh.

"Well he may be still alive but I'm not letting you go so easily." Warm breath steamed on her neck and she whipped her head around to see the giant dragon's head behind her. She took a moment to almost admire the dragon's face. She could see the tiny little scales on her cheeks and the muscles of her jaw line every time she took a breath and also she could do was stare at her giant teeth. But despite her fear she couldn't help but admire her beauty of being a mysterious creature.

But a moan in pain snapped her head back to Sora. His body looked like it was dissolving and she was about to cry out in fear but she then saw that the shadow was dissolving to reveal his normal, natural body underneath. He was fighting against the pain to get up and fight to get to her.

She was about to say something when the dragon suddenly started to walk over to Sora, her tail holding her in place beside her as she sat down on the ground. She looked up at her face and the admire was gone as she looked at her in disgust. She was sitting there taking pleasure in Sora's struggle to stay alive, just like she was watching a movie or something. "What's the matter key bearer, too weak to fight me?" She taunted and to Kairi's surprise she let go of her, setting her back down on her feet.

Her feet tried to move her over to his body but the dragon's tail moved in front of her, telling her that she could go no further. They had a deal, her life for his. She looked up at the dragon had that reptine smirk on her lips again.

"I will allow you a moment to say goodbye." She stated as she looked down at Sora who had managed to get up to his feet and stumble over to the dragon's tail. Although he didn't want to he had no choice was to lean against the dragon's tail to stay standing.

His legs were weak, the muscles were screaming in pain and his was sure that his left leg was torn to shit. Taking a breath told him that he could have possibly broken a few more ribs, maybe even all of them and he was sure that his arm was dislocated. With the shadows dissolved almost completely, Kairi could see the extent of his external injuries. His leg was torn so badly that she glanced at it and couldn't bring herself to look at it again. He was beading in sweat and a thick gash on his forehead was spilling a stream of blood down his face, over is right eye forcing it shut.

"K-Kairi you don't h-have to leave." He gasped for air as he reached a hand out and cupped her cheek, running his fingers down her soft skin. But a pained expression shadowed across his face as he saw that there was a trail of blood down her skin from his bloodied hand. "Don't leave."

Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she reached her hands out and cupped his face. He was so tired, so wounded. But it was all going to be over soon for she was going to save him. She was going to take all of the Heartless away and never going to bother him again. He deserved a life without having to be a soldier and she could give him that much. "It's ok Sora, this is my choice. I'm doing it for you; to save you. I want you to live." She smiled at him though the tears continued to fall. She leaned against the dragon's tail to get closer to Sora and she heard the dragon growl in protest. But she didn't care that the dragon did not agree and leaned closer to capture Sora's lips in a kiss.

It was a soft kiss at first, a tender kiss for she didn't know if she was hurting him but it was Sora who deepened the kiss and she returned the passion. The two continued to kiss as they knew it was going to be their last kiss. They kissed each other with all they had left in their bodies as Sora tried to ignore the pain that flared in every inch of his body to try and get closer to Kairi. He wanted her and he wanted none of this to have happened, he wanted to be back home on their island and just be with her - just her.

But the thought was cut short when the dragon let out a snarl and pulled Kairi away from him. His eyes snapped open and glared at the creature in front of him. He recalled his keyblade into his hands but only for it to be whacked away by the dragon's paw.

"Don't even think about it." The dragon snarled as she wrapped her tail around Kairi's body again and opened her wings. "If you even have any energy left to attack me I will forget about your little girl's deal with me and I will kill you both." Leathery wings started to flap and the dragon lifted into the sky, Kairi having no choice but to hold onto her tail for not wanting to fall to her death.

"Please don't!" Sora tried to call out with broken lungs as he tried to step after the dragon but the leg that he stepped with was his left leg and he crumpled to the ground, the only thing he could do was watch as the dragon took his love away from him. Took his life away from him.

But the dragon didn't leave yet. "I let you have your moment to say goodbye to fuel your anger for me. Now that you have said your farewells it will push you to recover, it will push you to search after me. Day in and day out, night and day. In your worst nightmares my image will haunt you as you search the worlds to find me, to defeat me to reclaim your love." She lifted her head to the sky and let out a deafening roar that caused the entire area to shake in fear. When she was done she looked back down at Sora. "I will be waiting."

Anger filled him again. "And what is the name of the enemy I search for?" Sora cried up to the skies. He had no interest in noticing but the Heartless minions where beginning to disappear into nothingness just as they arrived.

"Adren." The black creature growled loudly. It suited her as a perfect name; Adren having the meaning of nothing else but black.

But then they were going. The dragon and the Heartless were gone.

Kairi was gone.

She was gone.

With the dragon gone, her power over the magical binds holding Riku and Akira were gone. Riku dropped down on his feet and turned to catch Akira in his arms, his girlfriend still not strong enough to stand on her own. When he made sure that she was ok they walked over to Sora who had collapsed on the ground in a mess of rain and a puddle of his own blood. Setting Akira down on the ground, Riku ran over to his best friend and picked him up off the ground, not caring about the blood that would surely stain his clothes.

"Sora? Sora are you ok?" He asked as the sky opened up again and it began to rain as if the sky was crying for him.

The sky was crying for him, crying for his pain. And he was in pain! But not just the pain of his physical wounds, a torn leg and many broken ribs - no! He was now suffering from a broken heart. A broken heart – a broken soul that was not going to heal!

She was _gone_!

Even though Riku continued to ask his questions to make sure he was ok, Sora ignored him. It was like he wasn't in his body, he was watching this scene from up in the sky. He felt cold, empty - like there was no point in living anymore. His whole life was gone!

But no! His spirit told him that there was a reason to continue living. Even though he didn't want to agree with his new enemy, she was right - there was a reason to live and he would follow it. He was going to start searching day and night, for his new enemy. He wasn't going to rest until he got Kairi back.

His will returned and he felt like he could move his body a little though every time he did it was almost too painful not to scream. He gripped onto Riku's shirt and pulled himself up a bit and looked up at the sky, ignoring the sting of every raindrop, ignoring the sting of every injury.

He had no other way to let out his anger, his agony but to scream out to anyone who would be listening. He looked up at the sky with all the anger he could muster and filled his broken lungs with all the air they could hold.

_**"Kairi!"**_

* * *

Kingdom Hearts © Square Enix

His Princess by AniuLonewolf


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